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ILADTT &A-5T2E B3RIEY. 






LADY JANE GREY, 



AND 



HER TIMES 




-'<** .. 

BY GEORGE HOWARD, ESQ. 



LONDON: 

PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JONES, 
PATERNOSTER-ROW. 



1822. 



PREFACE 



In the present age of historical research, 
and of recorded usurpation, no apology seems 
necessary for bringing before the public the 
various events connected with the brief but 
eventful life and reign of an Innocent Usurper, 
the victim of parental ambition, and a sacrifice 
to filial obedience. 

That period in the sixteenth century be- 
tween the turbulent and tyrannic reign of the 
last Henry, and the glorious though despotic 
one of his daughter Elizabeth — a period of 
only twelve years — has been but slightly no- 
ticed by general historians, who have expa- 
tiated upon little beyond the precocity of the 
royal infant, Edward, and the gloomy yet 



VI PREFACE. 

ferocious bigotry of his intolerant sister : the 
unsettled state of one reign marked by the too 
frequent political use of the fatal scaffold; 
and the religious prejudices of the other too 
strongly shown by the flames of the martyrs* 
stake. 

Yet that period, though short, is replete 
with much of high interest to the antiquary, 
to the philosopher, to the man of taste, and to 
the Christian; for then was the infancy of 
our arts, our knowledge, our manners, and 
our reformed faith. 

Impressed with this conviction, we have 
endeavoured to draw from the dust of anti- 
quity every important anecdote or illustration 
referring to, or delineative of, that era ; but 
more particularly as connected specifically 
with the life of one whose short course has 
hitherto been rather considered in a political 
than in a biographical point of view. In do- 



PREFACE. Vll 

ing this, we have left no source of information 
untouched : and have thus been enabled to 
lay before our readers a series of facts, anec- 
dotes, and documents, unknown, or, at least, 
yet unnoticed ; most of which bear strongly 
upon the history of our country, and many of 
them tending to correct our opinions as to 
the characters of men, and our knowledge of 
manners of that day. 

If strict fidelity and adherence to truth, 
without party bias either historical or systema- 
tic, may be a passport to approval, to that we 
can fearlessly lay claim. How far true taste 
has been consulted in the arrangement, or 
true judgment in the selection, we must leave 
for the public to appreciate. 

London, 
Dec. 1, 1821. 



LADY JANE GREY, 

AND HER TIMES. 



SECTION I. 



Preliminary Remarks — Characters of Lady Jane, by contempo- 
rary Writers, &c. — Family of Grey — Family of Widvile— Of 
Brandon, Duke of Suffolk — Genealogical and chivalrous Anec- 
dotes — Rise and Anecdotes of the Reformation — First Print- 
ing and Dissemination of the Bible — Cranmer's famous Letter 
— Papal Incroachments — Anecdotes of Mary, Dowager of 
France ; of Queen Katharine of Arragon ; of the Princess 
Mary, afterwards Queen; of Henry VIII. &c. &c. 



If from the study of History, general political know- 
ledge is to be acquired, it is from Biography that we 
are to learn the best practical lessons of domestic virtue. 
The subject, however, selected for the following pages, 
combines both these advantages ; taking up that most 
important period in the history of our country — the 
Reformation, in addition to the picture that it draws 
of youthful excellence, humility, and piety, and that 
too in the highest ranks of society — a picture which 

B 



M LADY JANE GREY, 

may operate both as an apology and example for those 
in more splendid stations, — as a lesson of liberality, and 
an excitement to emulation in the more humble and 
retired walks of life. 

The era also is fertile in opportunities of illustrating 
the infancy of modern elegance — of sketching the last 
shadows of departing feudal magnificence and manners 
— of filling up the faint outline of recollected old En- 
glish customs — and of comparing all these with " things 
as they are." 

But the most important point is to delineate the life 
of one, so placed as to be the most conspicuous mark 
for envy or prejudice, both political and religious; and 
yet of one, of whom not even contemporary historians 
have dared to speak ill, though to gratify a reigning rival. 
Protestant writers have, indeed, in general, spoken so 
highly of her, that some of the liberals of the present 
day have hinted, that " perhaps*" she was rather glori- 
fied as a political martyr, than correctly described as 
an illustrious female. But it shall be our task to show, 
from the most authentic, and some yet untouched 
sources, that the most poetically animated descriptions 
of Lady Jane Grey are completely borne out by facts, 
on the concurrent testimony even of contending writers. 

That her praises have been so energetically expressed, 
as in some measure to justify doubt in this age of hi- 
storical scepticism, cannot indeed be absolutely denied. 
Different, however, was the opinion of no mean poet, 



AND ITER TIMES O 

who, in a volunteer prologue to Howe's well known 
tragedy on this interesting subject, observes, that 

' c Nobly to bear the changes of our state,, 
To stand unmoved against the storms of fate 
A brave contempt of life and grandeur lost, 
Such glorious toils a female name can boast. 
Our author draws not beauty's heavenly smile, 
T' invite our wishes and our hearts beguile ; 
No soft enchantments languish in her eye, 
No blossoms fade nor sickening roses die ; 
A nobler passion every breast must move 
Than youthful raptures or the joys of love; 
A mind unchanged, superior to a crown, 
Bravely defies the angry tyrant's frown ; 
The same if fortune sinks or mounts on high, 
Or if the world's extended ruins lie ; 
With generous scorn she lays the sceptre down ; 
Great souls shine brightest by misfortunes shown : 
With patient courage she sustains the blow, 
And triumphs o'er variety of woe." 

But, of the more ancient writers, we may notice that 
Burton, speaking of her in his Additions to Leicester- 
shire, calls her " that most noble and admired princess, 
Jane Grey ; who being but young, at the age of seven- 
teen years, as John Bale writeth, attained to such ex- 
cellent learning, both in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin 
tongues, and also in the study of divinity, by the in- 
struction of Mr. Aylmer, as appeareth by her many 
writings, letters, &c. that, as Mr. Fox saith of her, had 
her fortune been answerable to her bringing up, un- 
doubtedly she might have been compared to the house 
of Vespasians, Sempronians, and Cornelia, mother of 

u2 



4" LADY JANE GREY, 

the Gracchi in Rome ; and, in these days, the chiefest 
men in the universities.'" 

Fox, in his character of her in his Acts and Monu- 
ments, also says that she had the innocency of child- 
hood, the beauty of youth, the solidity of middle, the 
gravity of old age, and all at eighteen ; the birth of a 
princess, the learning of a clerk, the life of a saint, yet 
the death of a malefactor for her parents'* offences. He 
adds, " I confess I never read of any canonized saint 
of her name; a thing whereof some papists are so 
scrupulous, that they count it an unclean and unhal- 
lowed thing to be of a name whereof never any saint 
was — but let this worthy lady pass for a saint ; and let 
all great ladies which bear her name imitate her virtues ; 
to whom I wish her inward holiness, but far more out- 
ward happiness."" 

Another writer states her to have had a perfection, 
noble, holy, and worthy all good men's imitation, with 
a strength matchless and invincible, especially remark- 
able in one of the softer sex. He calls her a Sheba 
that had so oft heard the wisdom of Solomon, that ten 
thousand of her contemporary Solomons might come 
to be instructed by this Sheba. In short, a lady in all 
goodness so perfect, that whosoever could gain but 
some part of her shadow, might have enough in latter 
days to boast, and rank themselves with the best that 
are called virtuous. He adds, that she was brought 
up in learning and religion with that prosperous and 



AND HER TIMES. 5 

devout painfulness, that, as seed cast upon the best 
and most fruitful ground, she brought forth her in- 
crease in such abundance of infinites, that the least of 
her excellencies were impossible to be circumscribed. 

Old Fuller speaking of her, in his " Worthies of 
England," quaintly observes, that no lady which led so 
many pious, lived so few pleasant days; whose soul 
was never out of the nonage of afflictions, till death 
made her of full years to inherit happiness : so severe 
was her education. He adds, that to her, whilst a 
child, her father's house was a house of correction ; 
nor did she write woman, sooner than she did subscribe 
wife, and in obedience to her parents, was unfortunately 
matched to the Lord Guilford Dudley; yet, says 
Fuller, he was a goodly, and (for aught I find to the 
contrary) a godly gentleman, whose worst fault was, 
that he was son to an ambitious father. 

In short we may exclaim, as in the established pro- 
logue to Rowe's tragedy — 

Oh ! could our author's pencil justly paint 
Such as she was in life the beauteous saint, 
Boldly your strict attention might we claim, 
And bid you mark and copy out the dame. 
No wandering glance one wanton thought confess'd, 
No guilty wish inflamed her spotless breast ; 
The only love that warm'd her blooming youth 
Was husband, England, liberty, and truth : 
For these she fell, while with too weak a hand 
She strove to save a blind ungrateful land. 

Her general story is too well known for us to fear 



6 LADY TANK (.KEY, 

the charge of anticipation, in adding from the same 
quaint writer, that she was proclaimed but never 
crowned queen, living in the Tower, which place, 
though it hath or had a double capacity of a palace 
and a prison, yet appeared to her chiefly in the latter 
relation : for she was longer a captive than a queen 
therein, taking no contentment all the time, save what 
she found in God, and a clear conscience. He closes 
with the observation, that her family, by snatching at 
a crown, which was not, lost a coronet which was their 
own : let us add too, that this family had already ar- 
rived at the highest rank and power which subjects 
can or ought to possess, founded indeed on personal 
merit as well as in antiquity of lineage. 

Her family, of Grey, was originally of Norman ex- 
traction : their coat of arms, Barry of six, argent and 
azure; in chief three torteauxes, ermine: the motto, 
A ma puissance. 

Rollo, or Fulbert, was the first of the family on 
record. He was chamberlain to Robert, Duke of 
Normandy, and had from him, by gift, the castle and 
lands of Croy in Picardy; from whence the surname 
of the race became de Croy, or subsequently de Grey. 

John Lord de Croy, only son of Rollo, married 
Adela, daughter and coheir of William Fitz-Osbcrt, 
by whom he had a son — 

Sir Arnold de Grey, who at, or soon after the Nor- 
man Conquest, became lord of Water Eaton, Stoke, 



AXJ) HER TIMES. 7 

and Rotherficld. By his wife Joan, daughter and 
heiress of the Baron of Ponte de F Arc-he, he had a 
son — 

Anchitel de Grey, who held various grants of land 
in Oxfordshire. His wife is unknown ; and his only 
son — 

Richard de Grey, married Mabilia, also of a family 
not upon record, by whom he left several sons, the 
eldest of whom — 

Anchitel de Grey, married Eva, daughter of Bald- 
win de Redvers, Earl of Devon, and their eldest son — 

John de Grey, marrying Hawise, of a family not 
recorded, had several children, the third of whom — 

Henry de Grey, had a grant from Richard I. of the 

lands of Thurrock in Essex, with several other estates. 

He married Isolda, co-heiress of the Lords Bardolph, 

in 1300. Of this Henry de Grey the following notice 

may be found in the ancient heraldic poem, called the 

Siege of Karlaverok : 

" Henry de Grai vi je la, 
Ki bien et noblement ala 
Ovec son bon Seigneur le Conte : 
Banier avoit e pardroit conte 
De vi pieces la vous mesur, 
Barre de argent e de asur. 

I saw there Henry de Grai, who made a noble appearance with 
his good Lord, the Earl ; his banner, being rightly reckoned, 
was barry of six pieces argent and azure." 

John de Grey, second son of Henry, rose to various 

high offices in the state, dying in 1266. He married 



8 LADY JANE GREY, 

Emma, daughter and heiress of Geoffry de Glanville; 
and their son — 

Reginald de Grey, first summoned to parliament as 
Lord Grey de Ruthyn, married Maud, daughter and 
heiress of Henry de Longchamp, Baron of Wilton ; 
and their son — 

John de Grey, by his second wife, Maud, daughter 
of Ralph, Lord Basset of Drayton, left a son — 

Roger de Grey, who inherited the title of Ruthyn, 
that of Grey de Wilton going to the eldest son by the 
first wife. This Roger married Elizabeth, daughter 
of John, Lord Hastings of Bergavenny, and heir to 
John, Earl of Pembroke ; and their second son — 

Reginald de Grey, who was commander of all the 
king's castles in Wales in the reign of Edward III. 
succeeded to the title of Ruthyn, by the death of his 
elder brother. He married Eleanor, daughter of Lord 
Strange of Blackmere ; his only son and heir, by whom, 

Reginald de Grey, after being long time a prisoner 
to Owen Glendower, recovered in the court of chivalry, 
against Sir Edward Hastings, the right to the name 
and arms of Lord Hastings, in right of his grand- 
mother. He married Joan, daughter and heir of 
William, Lord Astley, for his second wife, and by her 
had three sons ; the eldest of whom, 

Sir Edward de Grey, marrying Elizabeth, sole 
daughter and heiress of Henry, son and heir of Wil- 
liam, Lord Ferrers of Groby, was summoned to par- 



AND HER TIMES. 9 

liament, in virtue of that marriage, as Lord Ferrers, in 
1446. Their son — 

Sir John Grey, who succeeded as Lord Ferrers, and 
was slain at the battle of St. Alban's, in 1460, married 
Elizabeth, eldest daughter and co-heir of Richard 
Widvile, Earl of Rivers ; she, after his death, marry- 
ing King Edward IV. as represented by Shakspeare, 
in his tragedy of Richard III. 

The family of Widvile cannot be traced of higher 
antiquity than the reign of Edward III. when Richard 
de Widvile was sheriff of Northamptonshire. His son, 
John de Widvile, held the same office as his father, 
and several others, and had a son Richard, who, in 
addition to his paternal offices, was constable of the 
Tower of London, in the reign of Henry VI., and 
distinguished himself in t^e wars in France. If not 
of a very old family himself, he conferred a most an- 
cient line of blood upon his descendants, by his mar- 
riage with Jacqueline, Duchess Dowager of Bedford, 
daughter of Peter de Luxemburg, Earl of St. Pol, 
descended also from the family of Baux, Dukes of 
Andree, and from Lusignan, King of Cyprus, during 
the Crusades. 

This Richard de Widvile was created Earl of 
Rivers by Edward IV. his son-in-law ; a title which 
descended to his son Anthony, whose fall, through 
the political tyranny of Richard III., is immortalized 
by Shakspeare, and thus announced to his royal sister : 



10 



LADY JANE GREY, 



Arch. Here comes a messenger : 
What news ? 

Mess. Such news, my lord, 

As grieves me to unfold. 

Q. Eliz. How doth the prince ? 

M ess. Well, madam, and in health. 

Duch. What is thy news ? 

Mess. Lord Rivers and Lord Grey are sent to Pomfret, 
With them Sir Thomas Vaughan, prisoners. 

Duch. Who hath committed them ? 

Mess. The mighty dukes, 

Gloster and Buckingham. 

Q. Eliz. For what offence ? 

Mess. The sum of all I can, I have disclosed ; 
Why, or for what, the nobles were committed, 
Is all unknown to me, my gracious lady. 

Q. Eliz. Ah me, I see the ruin of my house ! 
The tiger now hath seized the gentle hind ; 
Insulting tyranny begins to jut 
Upon the innocent and awless throne : 
Welcome, destruction, blood, and massacre ! 
I see, as in a map, the end of all. 

By the same exquisite poet the fate of Rivers is 
thus described : — 

Rat. Come, bring forth the prisoners. 

Riv. Sir Richard Ratcliff, let me tell thee this : 
To-day shalt thou behold a subject die, 
For truth, for duty, and for loyalty. 

Grey. God keep the prince from all the pack of you ! 
A knot you are of damned blood-suckers. 

Faugh. You live, that shall cry woe for this hereafter. 

Rat. Despatch : the limit of your lives is out. 

Riv. O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison, 
Fatal and ominous to noble peers ! 
Within the guilty closure of thy walls. 



AKD heb times. 11 

Richard tlic Second hero was hack'd to death : 
And, for more slander to thy dismal seat, 
We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink. 

Grey. Now Margaret's curse is fallen upon our heads, 
When she exclaim'd on Hastings, you, and I, 
For standing by when Richard stabb'd her son. 

Riv. Then cursed she Hastings, then cursed she Bucking- 
ham: — 
Then cursed she Richard. — O, remember, God, 
To hear her prayers for them, as now for us ! 
And for my sister, and her princely sons, — 
Be satisfied, dear God, with our true bloods, 
Which, as thou know'st, unjustly must be spilt ! 

Rut. Make haste, the hour of death is expiate. 

Riv. Come, Grey, — come, Vaughan, — let us here embrace : 
Farewell, until we meet again in heaven. 



Of this Anthony Widvile, " the gallant Earl of 
Rivers," it may be interesting to record a sonnet writ- 
ten by him during his cruel confinement in Pomfret 
Castle, previous to this his unjust execution by the 
tyrant Richard : 

i( Sum what musyng, and more mornyng, 

Tn remembring the unstydfastnes ; 

This world being of such whilyng, 

Me contrarieing, what may I gesse ? 

I fere dowtles, remediles, 

Is now to sese my woful chaunce, 

So is this traunce now in substaunce, 

* * * * Such is my dawnce. 

Wyllyng to dye, me thynkys truly 

Bowndyn am I, and that gretly, to be content : 

Seyng playnly, that fortune doth wry, 



12 



LADY JANE GREY. 



All contrary from myn content. 
My lyfF was lent me to an intent, 
Hytt is ny spent. Welcome fortune ! 
But I ne went thus to be shent, 
But sho hit must, such is hur won." 

During the latter part of Edward's reign, he had 
mingled much in court politics, from whence arose the 
quarrel with Hastings, which Shakspeare so pointedly 
alludes to in King Edward's death scene; so as to 
make it one of the most important features in the poli- 
tics of his play, bringing round the dying monarch all 
the characters connected with this part of our memoir : 

K. Edu\ Why, so : — now have I done a good day's work ; 
You peers, continue this united league : 
I every day expect an embassage 
From my Redeemer to redeem me hence ; 
And more in peace my soul shall part to heaven, 
Since I have made my friends at peace on earth. 
Rivers, and Hastings, take each other's hand; 
Dissemble not your hatred, swear your love. 

Biv. By heaven, my soul is purged from grudging hate ; 
And with my hand I seal my true heart's love. 

Hasf. So thrive I, as I truly swear the like ! 

K. Edu\ Take heed, you dally not before your king; 
Lest he, that is the supreme King of kings, 
Confound your hidden falsehood, and award 
Either of you to be the other's end. 

Hast. So prosper I, as I swear perfect love ! 

Riv. And I, as I love Hastings with my heart ! 

K. Ediv. Madam, yourself are not exempt in this, — 
Nor your son Dorset, — Buckingham, nor you ; — 
You have been factious one against the other. 
Wife, love Lord Hastings, let him kiss your hand ; 
And what you do, do it unfcignedly. 



AND HER TIMES. 13 

Q. Eliz. There, Hastings; I will nevermore remember 
Our former hatred, so thrive I, and mine ! 

K. Edw. Dorset, embrace him ; — Hastings, love lord mar- 
quis. 

Dor. This interchange of love, I here protest, 
Upon my part, shall be inviolable. 

Hast. And so swear I. 

K. Edw. Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league 
With thy embracements to my wife's allies, 
And make me happy in your unity. 

Buck. Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate 
Upon your grace, [To the quecrC^ but with all duteous love 
Doth cherish you and yours, God punish me 
With hate in those where I expect most love ! 
When I have most need to employ a friend, 
And most assured that he is a friend, 
Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile, 
Be he unto me ! this do I beg of heaven, 
When I am cold in love to you or yours. 



Sir Thomas Grey, eldest son of Sir John and Eli- 
zabeth Widvile, succeeded as Lord Ferrers of Groby, 
and held many high offices under Henry VII. by 
whom he was created a Knight of the Garter, Earl of 
Huntingdon, and Marquis of Dorset. He married, to 
his second wife, Cicely, daughter and heir of William 
Lord Bonvile and Harrington. His personal services 
to his country led him to public honours as much as 
his personal connexion with the crown — more, indeed ; 
for during the wars of the Roses, the Grey family ad- 
hered to the House of Lancaster, and had been parti- 
cularly active in behalf of Henry VI. 



14 LADY J AXE GREY, 

The royal marriage, however, naturally produced 
a change in his politics ; and, on Edward's death, he 
is thus described addressing his twice widowed mo- 
ther, in concert with his uncle Anthony : — 

Tk>r. Comfort, clear mother : God is much displeased 
That you take with unthankfulness his doing ; 
In common worldly things, 'tis call'd — ungrateful, 
With dull unwillingness to repay a debt, 
Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent; 
Much more to be thus opposite with heaven, 
For it requires the royal debt it lent you. 

Riv. Madam, bethink you, like a careful mother, 
Of the young prince, your son : send straight for him. 
Let him be crown'd ; in him your comfort lives : 
Drown desperate sorrow in dead Edward's grave, 
And plant your joys in living Edward's throne. 

Under the tyrant Richard, however, his affinity to 
the infant monarch was to him a source of the greatest 
danger, for in the first year of that reign, so well 
illustrated by the bard of the Avon, he was attainted ; 
but, having taken sanctuary, he afterwards escaped 
from his enemies, and fled into Brittany, to the aid 
of Henry Earl of Richmond, who there had 5000 
men ready for an attack upon the usurper. 

It was in allusion to this that Shakespeare intro- 
duces the following passage, in the admired scene 
before the gates of the Tower, as Richard was march- 
ing against Richmond, and in which the queen makes 
the marked distinction between the issue of her two 



AND HER TIMES. 15 

marriages: an historical correctness omitted in the 
green-room copies of the play. 

Q. Eli:. Though far more cause, yet much less spirit to 
curse 
Abides in me ; I say amen to her. 

K. Rich. Stay, madam, I must speak a word with you. 

Q. Eliz. I have no more sons of the royal blood, 
For thee to murder : for my daughters, Richard, — 
They shall be praying nuns, not weeping queens; 
And therefore level not to hit their lives. 

That Dorset's flight to Richmond was by his mother's 
advice, seems to have been Shakspeare\s opinion; 
perhaps founded upon the traditions of the time: 
when Elizabeth hears of Richard's intended corona- 
tion, she exclaims : — 

Q. Eliz. Ah, cut my lace asunder ! 
That my pent heart may have some scope to beat, 
Or else I swoon with this dead-killing news. 

Anne. Despiteful tidings ! O unpleasing news ! 

Dor. Be of good cheer : — Mother, how fares your grace ? 

Q. Eliz. O Dorset, speak not to me, get thee gone, 
Death and destruction dog thee at the heels ; 
Thy mother's name is ominous to children : 
If thou wilt outstrip death, go cross the seas, 
And live with Richmond, from the reach of hell. 
Go, hie thee, hie thee, from this slaughter-house, 
Lest thou increase the number of the dead ; 
And make me die the thrall of Margaret's curse, 
Nor mother, wife, nor England's counted queen. 

Slan. Full of wise care is this your counsel, madam : 
Take all the swift advantage of the hours ; 
You shall have letters from me to my son 
In your behalf, to meet you on the way : 
Be not ta'en tardy by unwise delay. 



1() LADY JANE GREY, 

The queen dowager, being flattered by the promises 
of Richard, was induced to invite Dorset home again to 
England ; and he, not being very sanguine as to Rich- 
mond's chance of success, was persuaded, by her repre- 
sentations, even to quit Paris on his journey home- 
wards. 

The whole of our bard's admired play is so illus- 
trative upon the history of this period, that we cannot 
omit the following passage in Richard's conference with 
the queen, alluding particularly to this circumstance ; 
when the tyrant says : — 

Dorset, your son, that, with a fearful soul, 

Leads discontented steps in foreign soil, 

This fair alliance qfuickly shall call home 

To high promotions' and great dignity : 

The king, that calls your beauteous daughter — wife, 

Familiarly shall call thy Dorset — brother; 

Again shall you be mother to a king, 

And all the ruins of distressful times 

Repaired with double riches of content. 

Meeting with some unexpected cause of detention 
on his way, and falling in with an old friend, Hum- 
phrey Cheney, Dorset was convinced, by that gentle- 
man's information, of the danger attendant upon trusting 
to the crafty tyrant ; so that he returned to Richmond, 
accompanied him upon his expedition, and, on his 
accession, was sworn in a privy counsellor. 

Shakspeare again alludes to this in the same 
play:— 



AND HER TIMES. 17 

Start. Richmond is on the seas. 

K. Rich. There let him sink, and be the seas on him ! 
White-liver'd runagate ! what doth he there ? 

Stan. I know not, mighty sovereign, but by guess. 

K. Rich. Well, as you guess ? 

Stan. Stirr'd up by Dorset, Buckingham, and Morton, 
He makes for England, here to claim the crown. 

K. Rich. Is the chair empty ? is the sword unsway'd ? 
Is the king dead ? the empire unpossess'd ? 
What heir of York is there alive, but we ? 
And who is England's king, but great York's heir ? 
Then, tell me, what makes he upon the seas ? 

It appears, however, from the same authority, that 

Dorset did not accompany, but preceded Henry, from 

the following passage : — 

4 Mess. Sir Thomas Lovell, and Lord Marquis Dorset, 
'Tis said, my liege, in Yorkshire are in arms. 
But this good comfort bring I to your highness, — 
The Bretagne navy is dispersed by tempest : 
Richmond, in Dorsetshire, sent out a boat 
Unto the shore, to ask those on the banks, 
If they were his assistants, yea, or no ? 
Who answer'd him, they came from Buckingham 
Upon his party : he, mistrusting them, 
Hois'd sail, and made his course again for Bretagne. 

Seven years afterwards, on account of some political 
jealousy, he was committed a prisoner to the Tower, 
but soon released; and, in 1491, he was entrusted with 
a command in the army that went in aid of the Em- 
peror Maximilian against the French. In 14Q5, lie was 
again in military command in the troops which over- 
came the rebel Lord Audlev and his forces on Blade- 
heath. 



18 LADY JANE GREY, 

Notwithstanding these public services, he employed 
much of his time in private life ; residing rather at his 
mansions of Bradgate and Groby, in Leicestershire, 
than in the vortex of politics at court. At Groby (as 
we shall have occasion presently to notice) he made 
many repairs and improvements ; and died in 1501, 
during the reign of his royal patron, with whose blood 
his own was shortly after to mix in genealogical de- 
scent. That his moral were equal to his political 
virtues, is generally acknowledged ; yet a passage in 
his will, agreeable to the Catholic superstitions of those 
days, strongly marks either the power of conscience, 
or perhaps rather the mental and obituary influence of 
the greedy priesthood of Rome ; for he not only left 
money to pay for one hundred masses by the friars of 
the four orders in London, but specifically directed 
that it should be done " with as much haste as may be" 
after his decease ! 

Thomas Grey, son of the foregoing, was second 
Marquis of Dorset, Knight of the Garter, and a great 
favourite of Henry VIII. ; in the third year of whose 
reign, 1511, he was general of the army sent into 
Spain, with design, in conjunction with the Emperor 
Ferdinand's forces, to have invaded Guienne. lUit 
peace being restored, he, two years afterwards, with 
four of his brothers, the Duke of Suffolk, and others, 
went to Paris, and engaged in the tournaments at St. 
Denis, where he acquired great renown. In 1520 lie 



AND H KU TIMES. 



19 



was present at the interview between Henry and the 
French monarch, Francis, in Picardy, at the famous 
Champ cVOr, or Field of Gold, so called from its mag- 
nificence, where he carried the sword of state, the Duke 
of Bourbon carrying that of France : and there too in 
the tournament he was again victorious. The pomp 
of this scene has been described by various historians. 
Shakspeare makes the Duke of Norfolk thus speak of 
it, in the first act of Henry VIII. 

Nor. Men might say. 

Till this time, pomp was single ; but now married 
To one above itself. Each following day 
Became the next day's master, till the last 
Made former wonders its. To-day, the French, 
All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods, 
Shone down the English ; and, to-morrow, they 
Made Britain, India : every man, that stood, 
Show'd like a mine. Their dwarfish pages were 
As cherubins, all gilt : the madams too, 
Not used to toil, did almost sweat to bear 
The pride upon them, that their very labour 
Was to them as a painting: now this mask 
Was cried incomparable ; and the ensuing night 
Made it a fool, and beggar. The two kings, 
Equal in lustre, were now best, now worst, 
As presence did present them : him in eye, 
Still him in praise : and being present both, 
'Twas said, they saw but one ; and no discerner 
Durst wag his tongue in censure. When these suns 
(For so they phrase them), by their heralds challenged 
The r.oble spirits to arms, they did perform 
Beyond thought's compass ; that former fabulous story, 
Being now seen possible enough, got credit, 
That Bevis was believed. 

c 2 



20 



In 1522 he Mas chosen to go to Calais, to receive 
and to escort the Emperor Charles V. into England ; 
two years after which he was constituted chief justice 
itinerant of all the king's forests. He married, to his 
second wife, by whom he had Henry, the third mar- 
quis, Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert Wotton of 
Bocton in Kent, and widow of William Medley. 

To enumerate all his military actions (but to some 
of which we shall presently allude) would occupy too 
much space, only observing, that, agreeable to the 
custom of those times, he was both a military and 
naval officer : we must not, however, pass over one 
very important part which he took in the politics of 
that day, being a witness in the cause of divorce be- 
tween King Henry and Katharine of Arragon, though 
he did not live to see that divorce completed. In that 
same year, 1529, he also subscribed and presented to 
the king the forty-four articles impeaching Cardinal 
Wolsey ; and it is worthy of notice, that the 19th of 
April in that very year was the date of the protest of 
the German princes, against a decree of the diet in re- 
gard to the reformed religion, from whence the term 
" protestant " has been applied to that purified faith. 

This is the more worthy of notice, because the re- 
formed system of Christianity, before introduced into 
England by Wickliffe, was now making great advances; 
its support and maintenance, a tew years afterwards, 
being one great and powerful cause of that proposed 



AND 1IF.I! TIMES. 



21 



change in the succession which called Lady Jane to the 
crown, though it had not sufficient power to save her 
from the scaffold. 

As early almost as the commencement of Henry's 
reign, Wolsey had shown his enmity to heretics. The 
situation of the reformed, or Lollards, as they were 
termed, was then very distressing. Fuller, in his 
Church History, observes, that cruelty still continued 
and increased on them even after abjuration, being 
forced to wear the fashion of a faggot wrought in 
thread, or painted on their left sleeves, all the days of 
their lives ; it being death to put on their clothes with- 
out that cognizance : and indeed, he adds, to poor 
people it was true, " put it off, and be burned ; keep 
it on, and be starved;" seeing none generally would 
set them to work that carried that badge about them. 

It was soon after that period that Henry VIII. 
having published his work against Luther, supposed 
by Fuller to have been principally collected by Gar- 
diner, was honoured by the pope with the title of De- 
fender of the Faith; with which his majesty was so 
much elated, that his jester, or fool, Will Somers, 
coming to the court, could not help observing it. 
Honest Will boldly asked his patron the cause of his 
exultation ; and when the king answered, that it arose 
from the holy father having honoured him with a title 
more eminent than any possessed by his ancestors, the 
fool very wisely exclaimed — " Oh ! good Harry ; let 



»5S LADY JANE GllEV, 

thou and I defend one another, and let the faith alone 
to defend itself!" 

Henry, however, did not take the fool's advice, for 
Wolsey was then in high favour at court, as appears 
from the following original epistle, now preserved in 
the British Museum*: 

" Myne owne good Cardnall, — I recomande me 
unto you w l all my hart, and thanke you for the gratte 
payne and labour that you doe dayly take in my by- 
synes and maters. Desyryng you (that wen you have 
well establyshyd them) to take sume pastyme and com- 
fort, (to the intente you may the longer endure to 
serve us,) for allways payne cannot be induryd. Surly 
you have so substancyally orderyd oure maters, bothe 
of thys syde the see and byonde, that in mye oppynyon 
lityll or nothyng can be addyd. Never theles, accord- 
yng to your desyre, I doe send you myne oppynyon 
by thys beror, the refformacion wherof I do remyte to 
you and the remnante off our trusty cosellers, whyche 
I am sure wyll substantially loke on hyt. As touch- 
yng the mater that Syr Wyllyam Say brought answer 
off, I am well contentyd w l what order soever you do 
loke in itt. The quene my wyff hathe desyryd me to 
make her most harty recommendations to you as to 
hym that she loveth very well, and bothe she and I 
wolde knowe sougne when you wyll repavre to us. No 
* Brit. Mus. Cott Veep. F.xiii. p. 71. 



AND HER TIMES. ~<5 

more to you at thys tyme, but that with God's heipe, 
I trust we shalle dysapoyute oure enemys off they re 
intendyd ppose. Wryttyn with the hand of your Jov- 
yng master Henry Rex. 

" To my Lorde Cardinally" 

These " harty recommendations " of the queen were 
afterwards changed to different feelings when she dis- 
covered that Wolsey was playing a false part towards 
her. Shakspeare indeed represents her as an active 
agent in his disgrace : 

Q. Knlh. I am solicited, not by a few. 
And those of true condition, that your subjects 
Are in great grievance : there have been commissions 
Sent down among them, which hath flaw'd the heart 
Of all their loyalties : — wherein, although, 
My good lord cardinal, they vent reproaches 
Most bitterly on you, as putter-on 
Of these exactions, yet the king our master 
(Whose honour heaven shield from soil !) even he escapes not 
Language unmannerly ; yta, such which breaks 
The sides of loyalty, and almost appears 
In loud rebellion. 

Again she says : 

Q Kath. No, my lord, 

You know no more than others : but you frame 
Things, that are known alike ; which are not wholesome 
To those which would not know them, and yet must 
Perforce be their acquaintance These exactions, 
Whereof my sovereign would have note, they are 



2-i LA!)V JANE CK! 

Most pestilent to the hearing ; and, to bear them, 
The back is sacrifice to the load. They say, 
They are devised by you ; or else you suffer 
Too hard an exclamation. 

K. Hen. Still exaction ! 

The nature of it ? In what kind, let 's know, 
Is this exaction ? 

Q. Kath. I am much too venturous 

In tempting of your patience ; but am bolden'd 
Under your promised pardon. The subject's grief 
Comes through commissions, which compel from each 
The sixth part of his substance, to be levied 
Without delay ; and the pretence for this 
Is named, your wars in France : this makes bold mouths : 
Tongues spit their duties out, and cold hearts freeze 
Allegiance in them ; their curses now, 
Live where their prayers did ; and it 's come to pass, 
That tractable obedience is a slave 
To each incensed will. I would, your highness 
Would give it quick consideration, for 
There is no primer business. 

Notwithstanding this love and regard for the Car- 
dinal, Henry, some years afterwards, thought proper to 
take the fool's advice, urged by qualms of conscience, 
real or pretended, by love for a young wife in expect- 
ance, and perhaps by a secret longing after the coffers 
of the clergy. This idea is fully confirmed by Shak- 
speare in his Henry VIII. 

Wul What should this mean ? 

What sudden anger 's this ? how have I reap'd it ? 
He parted frowning from me, as if ruin 
Leap'd from his eyes : so looks the chafed lion 
Upon the daring huntsman that has gall'd him ; 
Then makes him nothing. I must read this paper ; 



A\:> HKK TIMES ( l~) 

I fear, the story of his anger. — 'Tis so ; 

This paper has undone me : — 'Tis the account 

Of all that world of wealth I have drawn together 

For mine own ends ; indeed, to gain the popedom, 

And fee my friends in Rome. O negligence, 

Fit for a fool to fall by ! What cross devil 

Made me put this main secret in the packet, 

I sent the king ? Is there no way to cure this ? 

No new device to beat this from his brains ? 

I know, 'twill stir him strongly : yet I know 

A way, if it take right, in spite of fortune, 

Will bring me off again. What's this — To Ike Pope f 

The letter, as I live, with all the business 

I writ to his holiness. Nay, then, farewell ! 

1 have touch'd the highest point of all my greatness ; 

And, from that full meridian of my glory, 

I haste now to my setting : I shall fall 

Like a bright exhalation in the evening, 

And no man see me more. 

The purport of this letter is explained by Brandon, 

Duke of Suffolk : 

Sujf\ The cardinal's letter to the pope miscarried, 
And came to the eye o' the king ; wherein was read, 
How that the cardinal did entreat his holiness 
To stay the judgment o' the divorce : for if 
It did take place, I do, quoth he, perceive 
My king i> tangled in affection to 
A creature of the queen's, Lady Ann Bullen. 

To us, at the present day, however, it is not of ma- 
terial consequence what were the motives that led that 
tyrannical, yet often judicious monarch, to the mea- 
sures which permitted the reformed principles to spread 
over the land, to be at last consolidated by law, and 
engrafted on the constitution: but it will not be the 



*0 LADY JANE GREY, 

less interesting to take a cursory view of the subject 
here, for better understanding the very interesting 
facts which we have selected, as illustrative of the pri- 
vate history of the times, from original and unique 
manuscripts in the British Museum, and other sources, 
hitherto unpublished. 

It is well observed by an accurate ecclesiastical hi- 
storian*, that about the commencement of this century 
the Roman pontiffs lived in the utmost tranquillity; 
nor had they, as things appeared to be situated f, the 
least reason to apprehend any opposition to their pre- 
tensions, or rebellion against their authority ; since the 
dreadful commotions excited in preceding ages had 
yielded to the united powers of counsel and of the 
sword. 

It is not to be concluded, however, from this ap- 
parent tranquillity and security of the pontiffs and 
their adherents, that their measures were applauded, 
or their chains worn without reluctance. This, as the 
learned Mosheim observes, was far from being the 
case. Not only private persons, but also the most 
powerful princes and sovereign states, exclaimed loudly 
against the despotic dominion of the popes ; the fraud, 
violence, avarice, and injustice that prevailed in their 
councils; the arrogance, tyranny, and extortion of their 
legates; the unbridled licentiousness and enormous 
crimes of the clergy and monks of all denominations ; 
* Mosheim. t Ibid. iv. 7. 



AND HER TIMES. 27 

the unrighteous severity and partiality of the Roman 
laws. 

If any thing seemed proper to destroy the gloomy 
empire of superstition, it was the restoration of learn- 
ing in Europe, and the number of men of genius that 
arose, of a sudden, under the benign influence of that 
sudden revolution. 

The good resulting from this was manifold. Enfield, 
in his Philosophy, speaking of the corruptions which 
had crept into the church, observes, that after the 
example of the apostles, their immediate followers, who 
are distinguished by the name of apostolic men, were 
more desirous to teach the divine doctrine which they 
had received from Jesus Christ in simplicity and truth, 
than to render themselves illustrious by any display of 
human learning *. 

They had no other design than to spread the know- 
ledge of Christ and his Gospel in the world ; and they 
executed this design with simplicity, fidelity, and mag- 
nanimity, without the aid of rhetorical embellishment 
or philosophical refinement. 

The fathers of the Christian church soon departed 
from the simplicity of the apostolic age, and corrupted 
the purity of the Christian faith. This is chiefly to be 
ascribed to two causes; first, the practice, which at 
that time so generally prevailed, of clothing the doc- 
trines of religion in an allegorical dress ; and, secondly, 
* Enfield's Philosophy, ii. 271. 



^O LADY JANE GREY, 

the habit of subtile speculation, which the more learned 
converts from paganism brought with them from the 
schools of philosophy. In all these corruptions the 
English church had largely participated. The wealth 
of this country was a powerful stimulus to the pope 
and the Roman catholic clergy, to keep the people in 
ignorance, and so to preserve due control over their 
consciences and purses ; but the day of truth was now 
beginning to dawn. 

It is an important truth, that the English nation was 
at this period not only forward to receive the truths of 
the Reformation, but also to aid and assist most vitally 
in its support on the Continent ; especially by the con- 
nexion of many learned Englishmen with Melancthon *. 
That great reformer, it is well known, made use of the 
extensive influence which his high reputation, and the 
favour of the reigning Elector of Saxony, gave him in 
the German schools, in which he was considered as a 
kind of common preceptor, to unite the study of philo- 
sophy with that of classic literature ; in which he was 
much assisted, (as he himself acknowledges in his " De- 
clamations," and as confirmed by the learned Mayer) 
by many learned protestants from Great Britain, who 
were appointed public preceptors in Germany. 

The principle on which Melancthon acted — a prin- 
ciple also adopted by his English friends — was this: 
" I would have no one,' 1 says he, " trifle in philoso- 
* Vide Enfield, ii. U7. 



AND HER TIMES. 29 

phizing, lest he should at length even lose sight of 
common sense : rather let him be careful, both in the 
study of physics and morals, to select the best things 
from the best sources." 

Perceiving that the human understanding was 
clouded, and the freedom of inquiry restrained, by 
the forms of the schools, and that nothing contributed 
so much to perpetuate superstition and error in the 
church as false philosophy — those great and able men, 
the reformers, concluded that the disease admitted of 
no palliative ; that in order to produce any great and 
lasting effect, it was not sufficient barely to lop off the 
heads of the tares which had sprung up in the church, 
but that it was become necessary to tear them up by 
the roots*. 

They therefore, with a degree of magnanimity which 
entitles them to immortal honour, made a bold and 
open attack at once upon the corruptions of philosophy 
and theology ; laying open the numerous evils which 
the existing mode of philosophy had introduced into 
religion ; showing by what puerile arts, and with how 
much injury to truth, both natural and divine, it had 
maintained its authority ; and exhorting young men to 
leave such faithless guides, and give themselves up 
wholly to the direction of reason and revelation. 

Such were the principles which prompted numbers 
in England to adopt the sentiments of WicklifFe, and 
Enfield, ii. 417. 



30 LADY JANE GREY, 

to join the modem reforming church upon the Conti- 
nent ; principles which made them readily fall in with 
Henry's plans, though we fear, indeed, that he was 
but little imbued with them : although most certainly, 
when it was proposed to Henry VIII. by the confe- 
derate princes of Germany, that he should " encourage, 
promote, and maintain the true doctrine of Christ, as 
it was contained in the Confession of Augsburg," he, 
with a true spirit of liberal independence, answered, 
that he certainly would maintain and promote the true 
doctrine of Christ ; but, at the same time, as the true 
ground of that doctrine lay only in the Holy Scrip- 
tures, he would not accept, at any one's hand, what 
would be his faith, or that of his kingdom. He there- 
fore refused to bind himself to their creed ; but at 
the same time desired they would send over learned 
men to confer with him, in order to promote religious 
union between him and the confederates. He also 
approved of the plan to form a free general council for 
the purpose of defending the true doctrine; but he 
maintained that the regulations of the ceremonial part 
of religion, being a matter of indifference, ought to 
be left to the choice of each sovereign for his own 
dominions. 

It is well observed by Mosheim, however, that the 
downfall of papal authority in England was not, at 
first, productive of much benefit, either to the friends 
or to the cause of the Reformation. Henry himself 



AND HER TIMES. 31 

had already grown cold in the cause of die German 
confederates, when he perceived that they could no 
longer be of service to him in supporting the question 
as to his marriage ; so that his subsequent disavowal 
of papal authority was rather an insulated case, than 
in unison with the general body of reformers. 

In fact, Henry, though resolutely withdrawing him- 
self from the dominion of Rome, yet still preserved, 
for some time at least, some of its errors, as well as 
some of its persecuting spirit ; but the prudence, learn- 
ing, and activity of Cranmer, counteracted, in many 
instances, that vehemence, and also that inconstancy, 
which might have been fatal to the good cause. 

To enter, however, into all the causes which led to 
the Reformation in England, would be beyond our 
plan ; but we cannot pass over a very important letter 
addressed by Henry VIII. to the Bishop of Bath, then 
his ambassador at Rome ; which, though referring to 
a special case, and that case occurring not in England, 
but in that part of French Flanders then under the 
British sway, yet contains in itself so many important 
points and considerations, as to be particularly appli- 
cable even to passing events. 

The object of this letter is*, in the first place, to ex- 
press the king's displeasure with the bishop for having 
suffered a bull to be executed against him out of the 
court of Rome in favour of the Archbishop of Tour- 
* Brit. Mus. Ayscough's Cat. No. 3839, 2. 



32 l.ADV JANE GREY, 

nay, which he most pointedly desires him to have 
speedily revoked and annulled. It appears that the 
pope had made the most exorbitant grants to the Arch- 
bishop of Tournay, not only oppressive of the people, 
but also infringing upon the royal revenue, " contrary 
to all law and justice," and to the " derogation of our 
right and prerogative royell,'" as the king expresses 
himself. 

His majesty then shows, that to suffer such inter- 
ference of a foreign potentate or priest would be most 
prejudicial to the realm for divers reasons : first, " be- 
cause by the same the pope hath done, as much as in 
him is, to cause our rebell and disobey sant subject to 
be admitted to the archbishoprick of Turnay without 
makynge of homage or fldelitie to us, contrary to jus- 
tice ; by meanes whereof if hee should be suffered to 
enter, and make his abode within our cittie in contempt 
of us, hee might and would not onlie raise and stir up 
seditions amongst our subjects, but alsoe the perdition 
thereof, like as the president of Paris, his father, and 
hee last summer enterprized to doe, which thereupon 
was detected, and openly knowne for a truth soon after 
the importation of the said bull." 

The king complains, in the second place, that " our 
subjects, spiritual! and temporal!, within our said cittie, 
should be bounde by virtue of that bull, under the 
terrible censures, to ayde and favur the said bishop; 
s,)e b\ that meanes they should in manner be clis- 



AND HER TIMES. 



33 



charged of their oath of fidelitie to us made, and con- 
sequentlie maintaine or rebell against us, to our dis- 
honour and unsuretie." 

He then goes on to say, that by a clause of " Invo- 
cation " the pope had done all that he could to " raise 
warres and hostilitie between us and such princes of 
whom the said Invocation should be demanded, and 
under colour thereof hath authorized them to gather an 
army to bringe in the Bshp, to the danger of our said 
cittie, and our expresse wronge." 

The fourth royal objection is, that " by this strange 
and inordinate bull, whereof the like was never seene, 
he attempted to take from us the superioritie, royall 
predominance, jurisdiction, and au thorite," &c. &c. 

But the fifth objection is the most extraordinary, as 
showing how far his holiness ventured to disoblige even 
his best friends in England to serve his foreign allies ; 
for the king further complains, that " hee hath revoked 
the authoritie and administration of that see, by him 
granted, at our instance, to the most reverend father 
in God, the Cardinall Archbishop of Yorke" — Wol- 
se y himself ! 

In short, the pope and his conclave of cardinals seem 
to have been blinded, by successful usurpation, to the 
consequences which must naturally result from their 
overbearing conduct ; a blindness particularly favour- 
able to this happy country, by the establishment of 
liberty, mental, religious, and political. To go at 



34 LADY J AXE GREY, 

length into this subject is not part of our plan, but 
perhaps the best view of the advantages of the Re- 
formation may be found in the summing up of honest 
Fuller, who, after observing that by the extinction of 
papal power in England, the text was fulfilled of — 
" Give unto God the things that are God^s ; and unto 
Caesar the things that are Caesar r s ;" — adds, " Lastly, 
every English layman was restored to his Christian 
birthright, namely, to his judgment of practical dis- 
cretion (in perusing the Scriptures in his own language) 
formerly swallowed up in the ocean of the pope^s in- 
fallibility. Thus on the depluming of the pope, every 
bird had its own feather : in the partage whereof, what 
he had gotten by sacriledge was restored to God ; what 
by usurpation, was given back to the king, church, and 
state ; what by oppression, was remitted to particular 
Christians." 

Of the extent of the papal influence, we may judge 
by the recorded fact, that, at this very period, Sixtus 
IV. had granted eleven thousand years of pardon to 
any person who would say a certain prayer before 
" Our Lady of Pity," at Sarum ; and three hundred 
days of pardon to whoever would repeat " Ave Maty," 
nine times consecutively ! 

No wonder then that the church should thunder out 
its anathemas against the revival of literature, and that 
one of the loudest and ablest preachers should exclaim 
from the pulpit, "A new language has been invented, 



AXD JIKIt TIMES. 35 

which is called Greek ; guard carefully against it ; it 
is the mother of every species of heresy. I observe in 
the hands of a great many persons a book written in 
this language, which they call the New Testament ; 
it is a book full of thorns and serpents. With respect 
to Hebrew, it is certain, my dear brethren, that all 
who learn it are converted to Judaism." 

Such was the state of politics and religion in Eng- 
land at the death of Thomas Grey, second Marquess 
of Dorset, whose character, as given by Lloyd, in his 
State Worthies, contains the following compendious 
passage : " Land service was his exercise, but the sea 
his delight ; the compass his study, the stars his care, 
trade his thoughts, our own and foreign havens his 
discourse, a seaman his familiar, and their sea-fights 
his triumph. His converse and speech was souldier- 
like, plain, short, smart, and material *. There was a 
time when he would say nothing, and a time when he 
would say something ; but never a time when he would 
say all. He was, in a word, a happy man, who, not- 
withstanding that the times could not endure his virtues, 
nor he their vices, died at once full of honour at court, 

* Brit. Mus. Ayscough's Coll. No. 1523, contains some 
" maxims and sayings of Thomas Grey, Marquesse of Dorsette. 
— The greatest trust between man and man, is that of giving 
counsell. — Never was y c man merry y t had more than one 
woman in his bed, one frend in his bosomc, one faithe in his 
heart." 

i) 2 



36' LADY JANE GREY, 

and applause in the country; with this monument from 
the king — that lie was a honest man." 

This Thomas, the second Marquess of Dorset, speci- 
fied several articles in his will, which may serve to il- 
lustrate the manners of that age : " I will that Robert 
Brock, schoolmaster to my sonne Henry, have £20 
yearly. I will that every of my sonnes, Thomas, Ed- 
ward, and John, have yearly £ 1 toward their fynd- 
yng untill they come to 15 years ; and after to have 
c£20 yearly till they come to 2\. I will that each of 
my daughters unmarried have yearly £ 20 till they be 
married. I will that my daughter Mary have £ 1000 ; 
and to each other of my daughters unmarried each 
c£1000. I will that my wife have the rule and pro- 
vyding of all my children." He adds : " I will to my 
sister Ceciley Dudley, my mannor of Much Glen for 
her lyfe ; and her mete and drinke for her man servant 
and maide with my lady my wife, or els £20 yearly." 
Amongst other legacies he left £20 to Anne Bolein ; 
and to Henry VIII. one of his best geldings, with 
c£l00 in sovcraignes to buy a saddle: also money for 
three priests to sing and pray for his soul, for three 
years after his death ; at the end of which period, 
purgatory, in England, was certainly very near extin- 
guished ! 

Henry Grey, third Marquess of Dorset, succeeded to 
that title in 1530; and we may briefly recapitulate. 



AND II Kit TIMES. 37 

that he was constable of England in 1547; justice of 
the king's forests in 1550 ; warden of the Marches in 
1551 ; created Duke of Suffolk in 1551, also knight of 
the Garter ; and in 1554 met with that unhappy fate, 
which shall be hereafter recorded. 

He married Frances, eldest daughter and co-heir of 
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk ; their only issue 
being Jane, Katharine, and Mary — but the male line 
of the family of Grey was continued by Henry's younger 
brother John, ancestor of the present noble family of 
Stamford and Warrington. 

It was by this marriage that the claim to the crown 
came into the Dorset family; yet the Brandons, pater- 
nally, were not of ancient origin. The first on record 
is Sir William Brandon, Knight, in the reign of Ed- 
ward IV. who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Ro- 
bert Wingfield ; whose second son, Thomas, having 
joined Henry VII. against Richard, was made one of 
the squires of his body, receiving many other high 
offices, besides the honour of knight of the Garter. 
This Thomas married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir 
of Sir Henry Bruyn, and had an only son — 

Charles, of whom Dugdale states, in his Baronage, 
that being a person comely of stature, high of courage, 
and conformity of disjfosition to Henry VIII., became 
so acceptable to that monarch, that he was made one 
of the esquires of his body, and chamberlain of the 
principality of Wales. Having been in a sharp fight 



38 LADY JANE GREY, 

at sea with the French off' Brest, he, the next ensuing 
year, upon the expedition to Terouenne and Tournay, 
applied to Cardinal Wolsey, and obtained leave to at- 
tend the king upon that notable adventure. Henry 
bestowed upon him the command of the van-guard of 
the army ; and, to fit him more particularly for that 
high honour, created him Viscount Tlsle : and the very 
next year presented him with a patent as Duke of 
Suffolk. 

Dugdale proceeds to state, that shortly after, 6th 
Henry VIII., being at St. Denys in France, at the 
coronation of the Lady Mary, sister to King Henry, 
then married to Louis XII. he achieved much honour 
by his prowess, manifested in a princely tournament, 
where he overthrew the person with whom he tilted, 
horse and arms ; and gained so much upon the affections 
of that queen, as that, upon the death of Louis hap- 
pening soon after, she engaged herself to marry him, 
entreating Francis I., his successor, to mediate for that 
purpose with her brother Henry for his approbation. 
Leave for the marriage was soon obtained, and with her 
Brandon received, as a portion, a grant of all the lands 
which had belonged to De la Pole, the late Duke of 
Suffolk. 

This lady had been originally- designed for a Spanish 
prince ; for there are letters extant of the king her 
father* directed to the lord mayor and aldermen of 
* Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. '293, p, 93. 



AND IIEIl TIMES. Sfl 

London, " to make bonfyres, and to she we other sygncs 
of rejoysinge within the citty, for a conclysyon of a 
marriage between the Prince of Casteel" and her. 

It has been said that Brandon, on his first applica- 
tion to the royal widow, was told by her, that if he did 
not win her within a month, he should never win her 
at all. In that achievement, however, he must have 
met with little difficulty; as it is evident that she cer- 
tainly had some reference to it in a letter to Cardinal 
Wolsey, written in the first days of her widowhood ; 
and the original of which is now extant in the British 
Museum : 

" My reverend good Lord, — I recommend me to 
you, and thanke you for letters, and good lessones that 
you hathe gyft'en to me. My lord, I pray you, as my 
trust is yn you, to remember me to the kyng my bro- 
ther, for souche causses and bessynes as I have for to 
do : for as now I have no other to put my trust yn 
but the kyng my brother and you. And as yt shall 
pies the kyng my brother and hys counsell I wol be 
horderd; and so I pray you, my lord, to shew hys 
grace, sayng that the kyng my howsbandd ys departed 
to God, of whose sole God pardon. And wheras you 
advyse me that I shulde make no promis, my lorde, I 
trust the kyng my brother and you wold not depend on 
me solely, pleyz God. I trust I have so hordered my selfe 
so sens that I came hethcr, that I truste yt hath ben to 



40 LADY JANE GREY, 

the honour of the kyng my brother and me sens I 
came hether, and so I trust to continue. Yft* there be 
any thynge that I may do for you, I wold be gladd 
for to do yt yn thes partes, and shall be glad to do yt 
for you. No more to you at thys tyme, but God pre- 
serve you. Wrytten at Pares the x day of January, 
1515, 

By your louynge frend, 

Mary, Queen of France." 

Brandon's marriage with the French dowager was, 
it must be acknowledged, represented by some to be 
illegal ; his former wife, the Lady Margaret Mortimer, 
not even repudiated as some assert, being still alive. 
It must not be forgotten, however, that the point of 
legality had been declared to be fully settled both by 
the laws of the realm, and by the canon laws ; at least 
so it was broadly asserted in parliament in the 13th 
year of Elizabeth's reign in a debate on the succession *, 
in reference to a charge of bastardy brought against 
Lady Frances and Lady Eleanor Brandon, by their 
illegitimate sister, Lady Powis. 

Suffolk, after his marriage, seems to have become a 
complete courtier ; friendly with Wolsey in his power, 
yet, as Shakspeare describes him, secretly despising 
that priestly upstart : 

* Brit. Mus. Cott. Coll. Julius, V. (i. 



AND HEIl TIMES. 41 

Stiff. ^VTiich of the peers 

Have uncontemn'd gone by him, or at least 
Strangely neglected ? when did he regard 
The stamp of nobleness in any person, 
Out of himself ? 

He is also described as the agent of Henry's ingrati- 
tude to him : 

Suff. Lord Cardinal, the king's further pleasure is, 
Because all those things, you have done of late 
By your power legantine within this kingdom, 
Fall into the compass of prcemunire, — 
That therefore such a writ be sued against you ; 
To forfeit all your goods, lands, tenements, 
Chattels, and whatsoever, and to be 
Out of the king's protection : — This is my charge. 

Brandon is stated by the same dramatist to have 

been favourable to the young queen, whom he thus 

delineates : 

Suff. There 's order given for her coronation : 
Marry, this is yet but young, and may be left 
To some ears unrecounted. — But, my lords, 
She is a gallant creature, and complete 
In mind and feature : I persuade me, from her 
Will fall some blessing to this land, which shall 
In it be memorized. 

He officiated indeed as high steward at her corona- 
tion, though in an earlier scene he jests with the royal 
scruples, when a chamberlain announces them to him 
and the Duke of Norfolk : 

Cham. Good day to both your graces. 

Suff. How is the king employ 'd ? 
Cham. I left him private, 

Full of sad thoughts and troubles. 



42 LADY JANE GltEY, 

Nor. What's the cause ? 

Cham. It seems, the marriage with his brother's wife 
Has crept too near his conscience. 

Sujf. No, his conscience 

Has crept too near another lady. 

Nor. Tis so ; 

This is the cardinal's doing, the king-cardinal : 
That blind priest, like the eldest son of fortune, 
Turns what he list. The king will know him one day. 

Suff. Pray God, he do ! he'll never know himself else. 

Henry, the third Marquess of Dorset, and father of 
our heroine, seems not to have been a very dutiful or 
affectionate son to his widowed mother; for in the 
British Museum * is a letter from that lady to a noble- 
man, complaining heavily of her son's undutifulness in 
withholding her property from her, contrary to her 
husband's will. 

In this address the good lady is very strenuous; 
for she begins, " In the hous of our Lady's Passyon, 
my lorde, I beseeche you to be my goode lorde, con- 
syderyng me a poor wydo, so unkyndly and extreymly 
escheated by my son.'" The remainder of this epistle 
is scarcely legible ; but it is to be hoped that the 
marquess, who was a most severe parent himself, exact- 
ing the most slavish obedience and compliance from his 
own children, did not continue to pursue that undutiful 
conduct of which his sole remaining parent com- 
plained. 

The marquess, by his connexion with the royal family 
* Cott. Coll. Vesp. F. xiii. 108. 



AND HER TIMES. 43 

in consequence of his marriage, was now obliged to 
mingle more in the religious politics of the court, than 
his owh wishes would have led him to do ; for he is 
described by all writers as being fond of a domestic 
and a country life, and totally devoid of all ambition ; 
nay, as some assert, even of personal courage. 

In politics, however, he was obliged to take a part, 
especially in the important occurrences of the year 
1531, when the whole body of the Roman Catholic 
clergy in England incurred a premunire, by their too 
great attention to a promotion of the papal interests. 
By this legal procedure all the estates of the church 
became forfeited; but the king was then content to 
accept large sums in lieu, the province of Canterbury 
being taxed, or rather fined, to the amount of £1 00,000 ! 
Shakspeare also makes him carry the sceptre at Anne 
Boleyn's coronation. 

Dorset was very active at this period too when 
Henry first demanded to be acknowledged as supreme 
head of the church : and in the ensuing year Cranmer 
was recalled home from Germany, where he was suffer- 
ing a species of banishment ; but a recall to which he 
was at first unwilling to submit, postponing his return 
as long as possible, in hopes of some other person 
being appointed to the vacant archiepiscopal see of 
Canterbury ; his objections, however, were unavailing. 
The Reformation may now be considered as fairly 
begun ; and of its commencement old Fuller quaintly 



44 LADY JANE GREY, 

observes, speaking of the marriage of Henry VIII. 
with his brother's wife Katharine, that the marriage 
itself was founded in covetous considerations, merely 
to save money, that the kingdom might not be im- 
poverished by restoring her dowry back again into 
Spain, though hereupon a greater mass of coin was 
transported out of the land, though not into Spain, 
unto Italy: alluding to the bribes sent to Pope Julius II., 
who, as he states, by the omnipotency of his dis- 
pensation, removed all impediments and obstructions 
against the laws of God or man hindering or opposing 
the said marriage. He adds, that thus such who con- 
sult with covetousness in matters of conscience, em- 
bracing sinister courses to save charges, will find such 
thrift expensive at the casting up of their audit ; how- 
ever, divine Providence, overruling all actions to his 
own glory, so ordered it, that the breaking of the pope's 
power, with the vanishing of superstition out of Eng- 
land, is at this day the only surviving issue of this 
marriage. 

It is also a very curious fact, as stated by the same 
author, that Henry's subsequent idea of the divorce 
was first excited by the Spanish ambassadors them- 
selves; who, when Mary was first offered in mar- 
riage to Philip, then Prince of Spain, seemed to make 
some difficulty, actually expressing doubts as to her 
legitimacy, in consequence of her mother's prior mar- 
riage to Prince Arthur. Then again even Wolsev 



AND II KR TIMES. 45 

himself aided in the events which led to the Reforma- 
tion ; for it was he that first insinuated this scruple to 
Longlands, Bishop of Lincoln, the king's confessor, 
who made it a matter of conscience with the monarch, 
advising him to separate himself from her majesty, as 
a thing unlawful : even adding, that after divorce, 
which the pope, in justice, could not deny, then the 
king might dispose of his affections as he pleased. 
Here indeed the two priests overshot their own mark ; 
for they designed to replace Katharine by Margaret of 
Alencon, sister to Francis the First of France, little 
suspecting that Anne Boleyn had even then attracted 
the royal notice. 

Henry certainly had, anterior to this, been friendly to 
a treaty with France ; in reference to which, but before 
the meeting at Ardres, Shakspeare states the visit of 
the Emperor Charles V. to this country to have taken 
place, when he makes the Duke of Buckingham say, 

Buck. Pray, give me favour, sir. This cunning cardinal 
The articles o'the combination drew, 
As himself pleased ; and they were ratified, 
As he cried, Thus let be : to as much end, 
As give a crutch to the dead: But our count-cardinal 
Has done this, and 'tis well ; for worthy Wolsey, 
Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows 
(Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy 
To the old dam, treason),— Charles the emperor, 
Under pretence to see the queen his aunt 
(For 'twas, indeed, his colour ; but he came 
To whisper Wolsey), here makes visitation : 
His fears were, that the interview, betwixt 



1 



46 LADY JANE GREY, 

England and France, might, through their amity, 
Breed him some prejudice ; for from this league 
Peeped harms that menaced him : he privily 
Deals with our cardinal ; and, as I trow, 
Which I do well ; for, I am sure, the emperor 
Paid ere he promised ; whereby his suit was granted, 
Ere it was ask'd ; — but when the way was made, 
And paved with gold, the emperor thus desired ; 
That he would please to alter the king's course, 
And break the foresaid peace. Let the king know 
(As soon he shall by me), that thus the cardinal 
Does buy and sell his honour as he pleases, 
And for his own advantage. 

It is a curious fact that when Henry sent Stephen 
Gardyner and Edward Fox to Rome*, or rather to the 
Pope, for at that period he resided at Orvieto, in order 
to negotiate the affair of the divorce, that pontiff was 
actually driven from Rome by the Spanish troops ; and 
though they had retired so as not to prevent his return 
to the capital, yet the people of Viterbo, having joined 
with the Spaniards, did actually prevent it. So that 
the pope, though personally at liberty, was yet forced to 
reside in an old and ruinous city, suffering under 
dearth and pestilent air, and in a ruinous palace, as 
they described it ; the furniture of his bed-chamber, 
bed and all, not being worth twenty nobles. 

Henry about that period had written a book against 
the legality of his own marriage, and which he had 
dedicated to Cardinal Wolsey. The English bishops, 
it appears, had read this work, but the pope was not 

* Brit. Mus. Hurl. Coll. L H9. W, 



AND HEH TIMES. 47 

so easily induced to undertake the task ; but finally 
" he seemed resolved to read it over." 

Fox soon after returned ; but there is a letter extant 
from him to Gardyner, relating to his interview with 
the king ; and it is not a little curious that this inter- 
view was " in Mrs. Anne Boleyn's chamber ;" the letter 
showing also, " how much he and she were rejoyced at 
the good success"' 1 in procuring the commission and 
dispensation from the pope. 

The divorce accordingly took place in 1533, under 
circumstances in which the marquess readily coincided ; 
and his majesty became, as Fuller quaintly observes, 
not a bachelor, because once married; not a married 
man, because having no wife ; not a widower, because 
his wife was not dead : in short, a kind of matrimonial 
nondescript, from which state he emerged as speedily 
as possible, by marrying Anne Boleyn ; for which he 
was excommunicated by the pope, and the realm inter- 
dicted. Henry, however, was proof against the thunder- 
bolts of Rome, in which he was strongly supported by 
the Marquess of Dorset and the Duke of Suffolk : the 
monarch now re-assuming the ancient power of his 
predecessors, the British kings who had reigned in- 
dependent of tlie papal see. 

This was, indeed, a severe stroke on the papal in- 
terests, for the pope^s income from this country was 
then immense, arising from the sale of consecrated 
trinkets called " Agnus Dei, 1 ' of other trinkets, medals, 



48 LADY JANE GHEY 

and beads ; and from the annates, or first-fruits of all 
benefices for one year from each new incumbent. Then 
there were sums arising from appeals; from Peter- 
pence ; from dispensations ; from indulgences ; from 
Legantine levies, which were ad libitum ; from pil- 
grimages, perhaps twenty thousand repentant and 
paying sinners going from England to Rome on each 
jubilee, which happened once in twenty-five years ; 
from tenths ; from legacies, &c. &c. The Peter-pence 
alone, at " one penny for every chimney that smoked," 
that is, more properly, where fires were kindled, then 
amounted to c£7500 per annum. This sum was more 
than doubled during its short revival in 1655 ; but it 
would now form a much larger sum for papal cupidity. 
Henry himself, however, now felt a taste for these ad- 
vantages ; but his delicacy in robbing the church was 
at first most remarkable, as one instance will suffice to 
show. There is a letter extant * from Dr. John Smith, 
canon residentiary of St. Paul's, addressed to Sir Ed- 
ward Bayntun, vice-chamberlain to Queen Anne Bo- 
leyn, as it would appear, in which that reverend gen- 
tleman alludes to his majesty having desired to see a 
very rich cross, kept amongst other jewels, in that 
cathedral. The doctor then states that he had per- 
suaded his brethren not only to show, but to make a 
free offering of it to his majesty ; and concludes with a 
specimen of his own talent at bribery, as he offers to 
* Brit. Mus. Hail. Coll. I. '29:,. 62. 



AND HER TIMES 49 

Baynton two years farm rent of his prebend of Al- 
kaninge, provided the vice-chamberlain will procure 
for him " the same authority as Dr. Sampson hath." 
What that authority was, does not appear ; but two 
years prebendal rent must have been worth something. 

It is proper here to observe, that Mary, daughter of 
Katharine of Arragon, the repudiated queen, was now 
growing up to womanhood, rigid in her mother's re- 
ligion, and jealous of her own claim to the royal suc- 
cession ; so that although Lady Jane was not yet born, 
we may notice a circumstance which naturally tended 
to excite Mary's enmity to every person then, or after- 
wards, connected with the reformed religion ; a circum- 
stance which may have touched her womanly pride, 
perhaps, as nearly as her conscience was affected by 
religious coercion. The fact to which we allude is 
exemplified by a letter from John Huse, in the British 
Museum*; there called a " message to the lady for 
the diminishing of her estate and dignity of a princess. ,, 
It is to the following effect : 

" Please it yur good lordeshipe to be advertised, 
that, accordinge to the king's high comandement lately 
shewed unto me by yur lordeshipe at Greenwich, 
(upon Sonday last) I have signified unto the princesse 
his most gracious pleas r concerninge the diminishinge 
of her high estate of the name and dignitie of princesse 

(wherein hir grace coulde not a little ) that I 

* Harl. Coll. No. 416, p. 22. 



50 



LADY JANE GREY, 



beinge alone, and not associate with s"m othre the 
kings most honorable counsaill, ne yet sufficiently auc- 
torized nether by comission, ne also any other writinge 
from the kings highnes, wolde attempte to declare such 
an high interprize and matur of no litle weight and 
importance unto hir grace in depoyzing and dimissh- 
ing her said astate and name, hir grace not doubtinge 
but that she is the kings true and legitimate doughter 
and heyr procreate in good and lawfully matrimony. 
And further adding (said) that unlesse she were ad- 
vertised from his highnes by his writing, that his grace 
was so minded to diminisshe hir said astate, name, and 
dignitie, which she trustethe his highnes will never do, 
her grace will not believe it. And farther I have de- 
clared yo r said comandement unto all the princesse 
svints concernyng the premisses, who have made an 
answere, that they in moost humble wyse shall always 
obey the king's high comaundements in all things 
whiche his highnes shall comaunde them to do, savyng 
ther consience ; notwithstandinge they think that this 
comaundement being so high and weighty, given only 
be me, without writing from the kings highnes, or oth'r 
his counsaill associate with me, is in ther judgemente 
not suffyc'ent ; wherfore, my lorde, I writtc this mater 
unto your lordeshipe to be ferderly weide as shall stande 
witli yo r high and moost discrete wisdomis, which I 
pray God may be to his high pleas r and to the honor 
of the kings grace and the welth of his realme. And 



AND HEB TIMES. 51 

thus the hooly goost have yo r good lordeshipe in his 
moost uderfull tuition. At Beaulieu, this xx te daye 
of September. By me the king's subject, 

" John Husk." 

To this is added a note — " This message, I suppose, 
was sent soon after y e birth of the Lady Elizabeth, w eh 
was Sept. 6, 1533, or when y e king, upon the sentense 
of devorse, comanded y e Q. Katharine should be no 
more called queen, but princess dowager, w ch was in 
May, 1533. But by the date of this letter the former 
is more probable." 

In reference to this we may also add, that in May, 
1533, the Duke of Suffolk, in concert with the Earl of 
Sussex, Sir William Paulet and Mr. Richard Sampson, 
was appointed to regulate the household of the re- 
pudiated queen ; soon after which, these commissioners 
made the following extraordinary report to his majesty: 

" Pleasythe it yur highnes, upon Wensdaye laste 
paste, after dynner, we, accordinge to youre comaunde- 
ment, shewed and declared yur most gracious pleasure 
to the princes dowager in hir great chambre, all man- 
nere of servants of the house then their being to heare 
what should be sayd ; wherunto the said princes 
psystynge in hir great stomacke and obstynacye made 
answer with an opene voyse, sayinge that she knewe hir- 

e2 



52 LADY JANE GREY, 

selfe for yur queene and true wyfe, nevere carnallye 
knowne by Prince Arthure ; and that she wold ever 
stand null and prosecute in the courte of Rome, where 
the mattere is dependynge, to be hewne in peeces, ut- 
terly refusynge not only the name of princes dowagere, 
and hir removynge to Somersham because of hir 
healthe, but also refusynge utterlye to remove to any 
other place by the name of princes dowager, and to 
take the service of any psone sworne to serve hir as 
princes dowagere, for all perswasyones that could be 
made to hir by us, and after by the Lord Montjoye, 
Mr. Dymoke, hir almond^and receaver, in hir chambere, 
who used all meanes they could to pswade hir, upon 
hir sendinge for them to speake with hir, that she 
should content hir, to remove and to take your most 
gracyouse order for her servants and household, to 
howesoever she did ordere hirselfe in his cause: to 
whom, for answere, she sayd, that she tooke this change 
of hir name, and this oathe of hir servantes, to be to 
the greate hurte of hir cause, and thearefore she would 
not in anywise conforme hirselfe to that ordere, ne 
otherwise obbaye them, but compelled. Wherupon 
the servantes appointed by yur highnes to serve hir, 
when they came befoare us to receave knoledge of your 
most gratyous pleashure, and to that their newe oathe, 
they said they were loathe to servo her, psystyngc in 
the mynde she was off. Neverthelesse, to obaye v' 
eomaundement, they wold serve hir, so they might not 



AN'l) HKK TIMES. 



53 



he swoarne ; for they sayd, considerynge theire fyrstc 
oathe made to hir as queene, they mighte not take the 
secunde oathe without piurye, and so they contynued 
a tyme styfly in their oppynyones, unto the tyme we 
had with muche diffycultye gotten off them that they 
had that knoledge of Abell and Berker, hir chaplanes, 
whome we callid and examyned, and founde them styflye 
standinge in their consyence that shee was y r queene 
and lawful wyfe, and that no man swoarne to serve her 
as queene myghte change that oathe without piury, 
and so they knowledged that they had shewed to as 
many as asked there counsell, and what was their con- 
syence ; and in that oppynyon they psithe stylle, say- 
ing theyr learnynge so informethe ther consyense; 
wherupon we have corny tted them to the porteres ward, 
ther to remayne, not spekyng with [any other psone 
then theyr keeper tyll yor gracis furthir pleasur bee 
therin knowne. And after this was disclossed, upon 
good exortacons, with some difficulty many of the 
servants appoynted, uppon truste of y r most gratyous 
favore, have receaved their romes and other accord- 
ingly ; and so we truste, by Gods helpe, to procede to 
the stablishment of the servants and order of the hous- 
hold, albeit some psones named in y r graces book we 
change uppon good consyderatyon ; and the bushope 
of Langdaf, whom y r grace appoynted to departe, wee 
suffer to tarrye tyll y r further pleasur be knowne, for 
that she hathe no confessore left, yf he and Abe) I 



54 LADY JANE GREY, 

depte, that can speke Spanishe, in the wich speeche she 
is know confessede, and cannot be in any othere as she 
saythe ; and as we pceave by reporte the s'd bushoppe 
is the man of moste simplissitie, and shal do leaste 
harme to tarrye and be hir ghostly father. And for 
asmuche as she wilfully and agaynste al humanetye 
and reson contynuethe sty lie in this oppynyon, saying, 
that althoughe yo r grace have appoynted hir to remove 
to Somersham, she may ne will in any wise followe yo r 
graces pleashur therin, unlesse wee shal bynd hir with 
ropes, and violently inforce hir therunto, sayinge also 
that she will not take the servise of thes mene sworne 
to her as princes dowager, but as the servise of mene 
that hathe the keepinge of her. And for asmuche as 
she psystythe in this obstynasy, and so will contynue, 
as wee shurly thinke, and for that also by hir wilful- 
nesse she may also fayne hir self e syke and keepe her 
bedde in helthe, and will not putte one hir clothes or 
otherwise order hirself by some imagynacion that wee 
nowe cannot calle to remembraunce, w'ch extremetyes 
were not remembred at the makyne of our instructyones, 
by reason wherof yo r pleashure is not sette foarthe, in 
our s'd instructyones, what order shalbe takene with 
hir beinge in any suche extremetyes, we moste humblye 
beseeche yo r highnes, the premyssyes consydered, to 
send unto us yo r expresse pleashure herin, and in what 
maner ycT grace will have the same ordered and put 
in executyon, and as \vc may reoeave the same yo r 



AND HER TIMES. 55 

plcashur uppon sendynge nexte, because the feastc ap- 
proachethe so faste. And this the holy trynety pre- 
serve yo r grace. From Bugden, this frydaye, vi of the 
clocke after noone, beinge the xix daye of this presente 
monethe of December. And because we doubte the 
bushoppe and the reste of hir chappel shall refuse to 
make any othe, we have spared to speke with them 
tylle yo r graces further pleashure be therein knowne 
what order shalbe takene with them in case they shall 
so doe. 

Yo r moste humble subiectes and servants, 
Charles Suffolk, William Paulet, 
Robert Sussex, Richard Sampson. 

" To the kyngs highnes.' 

This conduct on the part of the divorced queen is 
but little in consonance with that humility and submis- 
sion which the bard of Avon thus exquisitely delineates 
previous to the trial : 

Q. Kath. Sir, I desire you, do me right and justice j 
And to bestow your pity on me : for 
I am a most poor woman, and a stranger, 
Born out of your dominions ; having here 
No judge indifferent, nor no more assurance 
Of equal friendship and proceeding. Alas, sir, 
In what have I offended you ? what cause 
Hath my behaviour given to your displeasure, 
That thus you should proceed to put me off, 
And take your good grace from me ? Heaven witness, 
I have been to you a true and humble wife, 
At all times to your will conformable : 
Ever in fear to kindle your dislike, 



56 LADY JANE GREY, 

Yea, subject to your countenance ; glad, or sorry, 

As I saw it inclined. When was the hour, 

I ever contradicted your desire, 

Or made it not mine too ? Or which of your friends 

Have I not strove to love, although I knew 

He were mine enemy? what friend of mine, 

That had to him derived your anger, did I 

Continue in my liking ; nay, gave notice 

He was from thence discharged ? Sir, call to mind 

That I have been your wife, in this obedience, 

Upward of twenty years, and have been bless'd 

With many children by you : if, in the course 

And process of this time, you can report 

And prove it too, against mine honour aught, 

My bond to wedlock, or my love and duty, 

Against your sacred person, in God's name, 

Turn me away; and let the foulest contempt 

Shut door upon me, and so give me up 

To the sharpest kind of justice. Please you, sir, 

The king, your father, was reputed for 

A prince most prudent, of an excellent 

And unmatch'd wit and judgment : Ferdinand, 

My father, king of Spain, was reckon'd one 

The wisest prince, that there had reign'd by many 

A year before : it is not to be question'd 

That they had gather'd a wise council to them 

Of every realm, that did debate this business, 

Who deem'd our marriage lawful : wherefore 1 humbly 

Beseech you, sir, to spare me, till I may 

Be by my friends in Spain advised ; whose counsel 

I will implore : if not, i' the name of God, 

Your pleasure be fulfill'd ! 

It is a fact, not generally understood, that Mary, at 
an early period of her life, had a reformer for her pre- 
ceptor *. This was Ludovicus Vives, a native of Va- 
* Enfield, ii. 415. 



AND HER TIMES. 57 

lentia in Spain ; who, though well trained in all the 
subtleties of the scholastic philosophy at Paris, had the 
good sense to discover its futility, and diligently ap- 
plied himself to more useful studies. Erasmus, who 
was his most intimate associate, says of him, in one of 
his epistles # , that there was no part of philosophy in 
which he did not excel ; and that he had made such 
proficiency in learning, and in the arts of speaking and 
writing, that he scarcely knew his equal. Amongst 
other of his publications, was a very ingenious com- 
mentary upon St. Augustine's treatise " De Civitate 
Dei," or the City of God, which he dedicated to Henry 
VIII., and with which that monarch was so well 
pleased, from the extensive acquaintance with the an- 
cient philosophy which it manifested, that he not only 
invited the author to his court, but also appointed him 
preceptor to his daughter, and then only child. In 
this office Vives displayed great fidelity ; but being a 
Spaniard, he naturally felt great interest for his coun- 
trywoman, the queen, and lost the king's confidence 
by his opposition to the divorce; on which he was 
forced to flee to Bruges. 

To appreciate more fully the subsequent conduct of 
Mary, in reference to the unhappy fate of our heroine, 
it is necessary to investigate her own early mortifica- 
tions in regard to religion, rank, comfort, probable 
marriage, and, in short, in regard to every thing which 
* Er. Epist. xix. 101. 



58 LADY JANE GREY, 

can be dear to a woman, and to an affectionate daugh- 
ter. A just estimate of all this may be drawn from a 
very interesting correspondence, which we have copied 
from the originals in the British Museum, and which 
becomes a necessary illustration of future events. 

Mary, it appears, had not only been unwilling to 
acquiesce in her mother's disgrace, but to accept the 
amended ritual of Henry, in which she was supported 
by her priestly household, who, no doubt, were the ad- 
visers of what is called her submission; but which, 
we shall have future occasion to show, was founded on 
rank duplicity and mental reservation ! 

This submission is to the following purport : 

" To the King's most gracious Highnes my 

Father *. 

" Most humbly prostrate before the feete of yur most 
excellent majestie, yur most humble, faithfull, and 
obedient subject, who hath soe extremely offended 
yur most gracious highnes, that myne heavy and fear- 
full heart dare not presume to call you father, ne yur 
majestie have any cause by my desertes, saving the 
benignitie of your blessed nature doth surmounte 
all evils, offences, and trespasses, and is ever merciful 1 
and ready to arrest the penitent calling for grace in 
anic convenient time. Havyng receyved, this thurs- 
* Brit. Mus. Cotton. Tit. c.vii. 176. 



AND HER TIMES. 59 

day, at nyght, certayne letters from Mr. Secretarye, as 
well advising me to make myne humble submission to 
yourselfe, which, because I durst not, without your 
gratious license, presume to doe before, I lately sent 
unto him, as signifieing that yur most mercifull heart 
and fatherly pittie had granted me yur blessing with 
condition that I should persevere in that I had com- 
menced and begun, and that I should not eftsones 
offend yur majestie by the deny all or refusall of any 
such articles or comandments as it may please yur 
highnes to address unto mee for the perfit tryall of 
my harte and inwarde affection. For the present de- 
claration of the bottom of my harte and stomacke; 
first, I knowledge myselfe to have most unkindly and 
unnaturally offended yur most excellente highnes, in 
that I have not submitted myselfe to yur most just 
and vertuous laws. And for myne offences therein, 
which I must confesse weare in me a thousand folde 
more grievous than they could be in any other living 
creature, I put my selfe wholly and entirely to your 
gratious mercy e, at whose hand I cannot receive that 
punishment for the same that I have deserved. Se- 
condly, to open myne harte to yur grace in those things 
which I have heretofore refused to condescend unto, 
and have now written with myne owne hand, sending 
the same to yur highnes herewith. I shall never 
bescache yur grace to have pittie and compassion of 
me yff ever you shall perceyue that I shall privilie or 



60 



LADY JANE GREY, 



apertly vary or alter from one peece of that I have 
written and subscribed, or refuse to confirm, ratyfie, or 
declare the same where your majestie shall appoynte 
me. Thirdly, as I have and shall, knowing yur 
excellent learning, vertue, wisdome, and knowledge, 
put my soule into your direction, and by the same 
hath and wyll in all things from hensforth direct my 
conscience, soe my bodie I doe wholly comitt to your 
mercie and fatherly pittie, desiring not state, nor con- 
dition, nor maner, degree of livinge, but such as your 
grace shall apoynte unto me, knowledging and con- 
fessing that my state cannot be soe vile as eyther the 
extreamitie of justice would apoynte unto me, or as 
myne offences have required and deserved. And what- 
soever yur grace shall comand me to do touching 
any of these poyntes, either for things passed, present, 
or to come, I shall gladly doe the same as your majestie 
can comande me. 

" Most humbly therefore beseechyng your mercie, 
most gratious sovereign lord and benigne father, to 
have pittie and compassion of your miserable and sor- 
rofull child, and with the aboundance of your in- 
estimable goodness soe to overcome myne iniquitie 
towards God, your grace, and yur wholle realme, as I 
may feale some sensible token of reconsiliation, which, 
God is my judge, I only desire without other respect. 
To whom I shall dayly pray for the preservation of 
yur highnes with the queue's grace, and that yt may 



AND HER TIMES. 61 

please him to send you issue. From Hownsden this 
Thursday at xj of the clocke at night. 

Your graces most humble and obedient 

daughter and handmayde, 
Marye." 

This penitent epistle was accompanied by " The 
confession of me, the Lady Marye, made upon certayne 
poyntes and articles underwritten, in the which as I 
doe nowe plainely and with all myne harte confesse and 
declare myne inward sentence, beliefe, and judgment, 
with a due conform itie of obedience to the lawes of the 
realme ; soe minding for ever to persist and continue 
in this determination without change, alteration, or 
varyance, I doe most humblie beseache the kinge's 
highnes my father, whom I have obstinatly and in- 
obediently offendid in the deniall of the same hereto- 
fore, to forgive myne offences therein, and to take me 
to his most gratious mercye. 

" First, I confesse and knowledge the kinges ma- 
jestie to be my soverayne lord and kinge in the im- 
periall crowne of this realme of England ; and doe sub- 
mitt myselfe to his highnes, and to all and singuler 
lawes and statutes of this realm, as becometh a true 
and faithfull subject to doe, which I shall allso obey, 
keepe, observe, advance, and mayntayne, accordinge 
to my bounden duety, with all the power, force, and 
qualyties that God hath indued me during my lyfe. 



0«S LADY JANE GREY, 

" Item, I do recognyse, accept, take, repute, and 
knowledge the king's highnes to be supreme head in 
earth, under Christ, of the church of England; and 
doo utterly refuse the Bishop of Rome's pretended 
authority, power, and jurisdiction, within this realme 
heretofore usurped, according to the lawes and statutes 
made in that behalf e, and of all the king's true subjects 
humbly receyved, admitted, obeyed, kept, and ob- 
served ; and alsoe doe utterly renounce and forsake 
all maner of remedye, interest, and advantage which I 
may by any means clayme by the Bishop of Rome's 
lawes, processe, jurisdiction, or sentence, at this present 
time, or in anywise hereafter, by anye maner, title, 
colour, means, or care that is, shall, or can be devysed 
for that purpose. 

" Marye." 

a Item, I doe freely, frankely, and for the discharge 
of my dutie towards God, the king's highness, and his 
lawes, without other respect, recognyse and knowledge 
that the mariage heretofore had between his majestie 
and my mother, the late princesse dowager, was by 
God's lawes and man's law, incestuous and unlawful. 

" Marye." 

4 

Henry seems to have been satisfied, for the present, 
with this declaration ; for, indeed, lie was at this time 
pretty deeply engaged in a new matrimonial arrange- 



AND HER TIMES. 



63 



mcnt — that of taking off his second wife's head # ! 
What part the Marquess of Dorset took in this affair, 
history does not inform us ; but it is well ascertained 
that Brandon, then Duke of Suffolk, and grandfather 
to Lady Jane, was active in the cause ; a circumstance 
not likely to be forgotten by Elizabeth in after days, 
then the infant daughter of the unhappy queen. In 
fact the Duke of Suffolk was one of the privy council, 
who attended with Audley, the lord chancellor, and 
others, as Fuller relates in his Church History, at the 
court held at Lambeth by Cranmer, when that pre- 
late cited the king and queen, Anne Bolleyn, to appear 
before him, as they did by their proxies. Anne, in- 
deed, was then a prisoner in the Tower, this being on 
the day previous to her execution ; and by this court 
she was divorced, the marriage being declared " in- 
valid, frustrate, and of none effect. 1 "' 

In 1535 Queen Katharine died ■(• : but Mary seems 

* Henry was also much occupied in the improvement of his 
finances. In the Lansdown MSS. there is " A Devise how that 
within the Realme of England there may be levied for the King, 
our Sovereigne Lord, in two yeres, the somme of VIII C . M. lli. 
(=5800,000) with grete ese to his subjectis." 

t A good picture of the manners of the times may be found 
in the will of Queen Katharine, as preserved in the British Mu- 
seum *. 

" In the name of the father, of the sonne, and of the holie 
ghost, amen. I, Katharine, doe supplicate and desire Kinge 
Henry y c VI IF' my good lord, that it please hym of his grace, 

• Brit Hub. Cotton. Tit. c. vii. 44. 



64 LADY JANE GREY, 

not to have been less sturdy at times in opposition to 
her father's mandates, or less hypocritical at others, 
than during her lifetime. A specimen of the latter 

and in aulmes, and for the service of God, to let mee have the 
goodes which I doe hould, as well in gould and silver as other 
things ; and also y e same that is due to mee in money for the 
tyme passed. To the tent y l I may pay my debts and recom- 
pense my servaunts for the good service they have done unto 
mee ; and the same I desyre as affectously as I may for the ne- 
cessity wherin I am redie to die, and to yeald my soule unto 
God. 

First, I supplycate that my bodie be buried in a convent of 
observaunt freres. 

Item, That for my soule may be said l c masses. 

Item, That som p'sonage goe to our ladie of Walsingham in 
pilgrimage, and in going by the way doale xx nobles. 

Item, I appoint to Mistres Darell xx li. for her mariage. 

Item, I ordayne that the collar of gould whych I broughte 
out of Spayne, be to my doughter. 

Item, I ordayne to Mistres Blanche x li. ster?. 

Item, I ordayne to Mistris Margerie, and to Mistris , to 

each of them x li. sterl. 

Item, I ordayne to M rs Mary, my physitian's wife, and to 
Mistris Isabell, doughter of Mistris Margerie, to each of them 
xl pounds sterl. 

Item, I ordayne to my physitian ye yeares commynge wages. 

Item, I ordayne to Francisco Philippo all y* I owe unto him, 
and besydes that xl pounds sterl. 

Item, I ordayne to Mr. John, myne apothecary, his wages for 
y e year commynge, and besydes y l all y l is due unto him. 

Item, I ordayne that Mr. Whiller be payd of expencc about 
y c makynge of my gowne, and besides y l xx liv. sterl. 

Item, I geve to Phillipe, to Anthony, to Bastian, to evorye 
of them xx liv. sterl. 

Item, I ordayne to the little maydens x liv. to everie of them. 

Item, I ordayne y l my gouldsmith be paid of his wages for 
the year commynge, and besydes all that is due to him hitherto. 



AND HER TIMES. 155 

occurs in 1536, in a letter now in the Museum, but 
partly burnt, and almost illegible : 

" In as humble and lowly maner as is possyble, I 
beseche your moste gracyous hyghnes of you .... 

Item, I ordayne that my launclerer be paid of y l is due unto 
her, and besydes y l of her wages for y e year commynge. 

Item, I ordayne to y e Sabell of Vergas xx liv. sterl. 

Item, To my ghostly father his wages for the year commynge. 

Item, It may please y e kinge my good lorde, that the house 
ornaments for y e church to be made of my gowns which he 
houldeth for to serve the convent there at y shall be buried. 

And the furres of the same I geve for my doughter." 

It is remarkable, that in this will the queen does not even re- 
commend her daughter to the king ; perhaps, in regard to her, 
she really acted as Shakspeare describes : 

Cap. Noble lady, 

First, mine own service to your grace ; the next, 
The king's request that I would visit you ; 
Who grieves much for your weakness, and by me 
Sends you his princely commendations, 
And heartily entreats you take good comfort. 

Kath. O my good lord, that comfort comes too late ; 
'Tis like a pardon after execution : 
That gentle physic, given in time, had cured me ; 
But now I am past all comforts here, but prayers. 
How does his highness ? 

Cap. Madam, in good health. 

Kath. So may he ever do ! and ever flourish, 
When I shall dwell with worms, and my poor name 
Banish'd the kingdom ! — Patience, is that letter, 
I caused you write, yet sent away ? 

Pat. No, madam. 

Kath. Sir, I most humbly pray you to deliver 
This to my lord, the king. 



(>(> LADY JANE GREY, 

blessyng. And albeit I have alredy as y truste .... 
upon myn humble and harty servis and submys .... 
quyryng mercy and forgy venes for myne offenc 
maiestye obtayned the same wyth lycence tow.... 
wherby I have also conceyved great hope and .... at 
your grace of your inestymable goodnes .... rgyve 

Cap. Most willing, madam. 

Kath. In which I have commended to his goodness 
The model of our chaste loves, his young daughter : — 
The dews of heaven fall thick in blessings on her ! — 
Beseeching him, to give her virtuous breeding ; 
(She is young, and of a noble modest nature; 
I hope, she will deserve well;) and a little 
To love her for her mother's sake, that loved him, 
Heaven knows how dearly. My next poor petition 
Is, that his noble grace would have some pity 
Upon my wretched women, that so long 
Have follow'd both my fortunes faithfully : 
Of which there is not one, I dare avow 
(And now I should not he), but will deserve, 
For virtue, and true beauty of the soul, 
For honesty, and decent carriage, 
A right good husband, let him be a noble ; 
And, sure, those men are happy that shall have them. 
The last is, for my men :— they are the poorest, 
But poverty could never draw them from me ; — 
That they may have their wages duly paid them, 
And something over to remember me by ; 
If heaven had pleased to have given me longer life, 
And able means, we had not parted thus. 
These are the whole contents : — And, good my lord, 
By that you love the dearest in this world, 
As you wish Christian peace to souls departed, 
Stand these poor people's friend, and urge the king 
To do me this last right. 



AND II KU Tl.MKs. 67 

me my sayd offencys and wythdre .... leasur con- 
ceyved upon the same, yet sh . . . . returne parfactly 
to me, ne my hope .... the time as it may," &c. &c* 

It is a very remarkable fact, however, and a proof 
of the mental reservation with which Mary had been 
led to act in these transactions, that this very letter 
was accompanied by one to Secretary Cromwell, pray- 
ing that she might not be compelled in her conscience. 
That her conscience ought to have been left to perfect 
freedom cannot for a moment be denied ; but then she 
ought not to have made a submission so extremely 
pointed as that already recorded. 

This letter is preserved in the British Museum ; 
and though half burnt, yet enough remains to illus- 
trate what is here spoken of : 

" Good Master Secretary, — I do thanke you much 
all the greate payne and service that you have had, 
for whyche I thynke myselfe veray muche bounde to 
.... as I do parceyve by your letters that you .... 
excepcyon in my letter to the kyng^s grace .... dyde 
not mean as you do take it, for I . . . . the kyngs 
goodnes wyll move me .... shulde offend God and 
my conscyen .... dyde write that only by the re ... . 
for I have always used both except God in all thyngs 
.... exhorted me to write to ... . devyse what I 

* Brit. Mus. Cotton. Otho. c. x. 261. 

f2 



68 LADY JANE GREY, 

should wr . . . . wythout addyng or mynysh .... thys 
berer my servant the .... is unsealyd because I can 
.... copye for the payne in my .... me so sore theys 
two or thre .... that I have very small rest .... 
truste in your goodness that .... fynd suche meanes 
by your M 

In the same collection are several other letters of a 
date nearly similar ; those to the king all submissive, 
but those to Cromwell displaying a system of mental 
reservation, as if her conscience forced her almost to 
confess the chicanery she was then induced to practise 
by the advice of her ghostly confessors. 

All this, however, had its effect, and she seems now 
to have been on better terms with her father than 
usual ; but still the inward leaven would show itself. 

It has been often said, and justly said, that the 
greatest tyrants are the mildest on earth when not in 
power. How far this was the case with Mary may be 
illustrated by the following letter from her about this 
period, but without address, preserved in the British 
Museum*. 

" My very good lorde, — Because my truste is your 

goodnes wyll not be wery, thoughe I do dayly molesto 

you wyth my contynuall sutes, I shall most hartyly 

desyre the same to have in remembrance my no erneste 

* Brit. Mus. Cotton. Vesp. F. xiii. 202, 203. 



AND UKK TIMES. W 

sutc made unto you for mystres Coke, my mothers 
olde servant touchyng the ferme of Rysbrydge be- 
longyng to the Newe Colledge in Oxforde, the Warden 
wherof hathe neyther used you nor me (as I thinke) 
gently therin ; and therefore as my shote anker nexte 
the kyng's majesty, I recofhende it holly unto you. 
And even so beseche our lorde to sende you no worse 
to fare then I wolde my selfe. At the courte, the 15 l 
of Apryll. 

Your lovyng assured frend during my lief, 

Marye." 

About this same period we find another letter from 
the princess to Secretary Cromwell, not only illustrative 
of her own manner, but of the manners of the times, 
for it is an excuse to avoid the honours of knighthood, 
in regard to one of her own household, that honour 
appearing to be then absolutely enforced upon all of 
a certain rank and fortune; evidently on account of 
the fees, and of certain benevolences in peace and ser- 
vices in war, which knights were obliged to fulfil. The 
letter runs thus : 

" Mary, Princesse. Maister Cromewell, — In my 
hasty maner, I comende me to you, and whereas I am 
advertised on the behalfe of my servant Richard Wil- 
bram, this bearer, that all suche as maye dyspende 



70 



LADY JANE GREY. 



in landes fourty pounds by yere, have in comandment 
to appere before my most drad lorde and father the 
kyng, and to receyve of hys highnes the ordre of 
knyghthoode, amongst whom my sayd servant's fa- 
ther's oon, being, as I am informed, no we foure score 
yeres of age, the contends of whose landes my said 
servante, I doute not, will truly declare unto you ; 
and forasmuch as I am advysed that all suche men 
shall first resorte unto you to knowe the kyng my 
fathers pleasyr further theryn, I therfor desyre and 
hartely pray you in consideracon of the greate age of 
my said servants father, and also the farre distance of 
his dwellyng place, as in Cheshyre, to showe your lov- 
yng favour unto hym, as well in excuse for his non 
apparance as also yn all other causes concerning the 
kyng my father's pleys r to hym for the same. And 
y r thus doing at thys my desyre, in shewing your for- 
warde favour and goodnes unto my servant's said father, 
shall deserve my ryght harty thankes, whych shall not 
be put in oblivion, but remembred herafter accordingly. 
From Oxford, the xxviii daye of Maye." 

We now come to a very important document in 
regard to succeeding events ; it is called, — 



AND HKIt TIMES. 



71 



" The Examinacon of Sir Anthony Browne, 
touching the La: Maries submission to 
Kinge Henry the 8 th her father*, 18 th 
June, 1536. 

" Sir Anthony Browne, Knight, sworne and ex- 
amined, saith, that he never knew ye Kinges highnes 
and the dowger, for their matrimony was doubted, 
thought ye same lawfull, forasmuch as shee was his 
brother's wife before. 

" Item, He saith that Mr. Carewe shewed him lately 
that he had received a Ire from the La: Marie as he 
supposed, and your deponent declared that Mr. Secre- 
tary had written a letter unto her adviseing her to 
submitte herselfe to the kinge ; and shewed him that 
she would soe doe as he understood. Wherupon the 
said Sir Anthony praied God to give her grace soe to 
doe. Wherunto the said Mr. Carew said — Iff shee 
doe not submitte herselfe shee is undone; for the 
kinge is a mercifull prince and will have pittie of her, 
if shee will now leave her obstinacie, and not cast her- 
self away. 

" Then he saith that Mr. Russel tould him that he 

heard say, that in case she would followe the king's 

pleasure shee should be heire apparante, at which 

time being others present, whom he now remembereth 

* Brit. Mus. Ayscough, 1786, 69. 



72 LADY JANE GREY, 

not, one of them said, what meane you by the heire appa- 
rant? whereunto it was answeared that shee should be 
reputed in such case to his highness unless his grace 
should have issue by his queen that now is, sonne or 
daughter. 

" Item, He saith that when Mr. Crom 11 was last at 
home, he went to Guildford to him; of whom the 
said Mr. Carew asked what newes were at court? 
whereunto he answered, that he knew no newes saving 
only Mr. Russel tould him he heard say that La: 
Marie should be made heire apparent to the king, if 
she would submitt herselfe and follow his pleasure, 
which the said Mr. Carewe praied to God shee might 
doe. 

" Item, He saith that Mr. Carew sent a lettre to the 
Ladie Mary, which ltre hee shewed before to this de- 
ponent and Mr. Crom 11 , the effect thereof was to ad- 
vise and counsell her in any "wise to submitt herselfe to 
the king, and to followe such counsel as by Mr. Secre- 
tary^ ltres should be declared unto her touching the 
same ; nevertheless, whether he sent this ltre forth or 
noe, he knoweth not. 

" Item, He saith that since Mr. Cromw IPs coming to 
the court, he hath demanded of him whether the Ladie 
Marie should be heire apparent or noe, to whom hee 
hath answeared, that in case shee would submit her- 
selfe, and bee obedient as slice ought to bee, hee 
trusted shee would ; and iff shee will not bee obedient 



AND HER TIME*. 73 

unto his grace, I would quoth hee that her head were 
from her shoulders that I might tosse it here with my 
foote, and soe putt his foote forward spurning the 
rushes. 

" Item, Examined why hee should have such af- 
fection to the said Ladie Marie, saith that hee was 
only moved thereunto for the love he beareth to the 
king ; for hee never received letter, messege, token or 
recommendement from her, nor hath sent her any. 

" Item, Examined whether in case it had pleased 
God to call the King to his mercie, which God defend, 
leaving the Ladie Elizabeth in the degree of princesse, 
hee would have adheared to her, or advaunced the 
Ladie Marie? Hee saith that in such case he would 
have died with the Ladie Elizabeth according to the 
lawes of the land. 

" Item, He saith, he thought the Ladie Mary to be 
a fitt person to be an heire apparent, and to succeed in 
case the King's highness should not chance to have 
issue of his body by the Queene that now is, which 
God send him shortly, for that ye said Ladie Mary 
was borne in bona fide; which tearm of bona fide as hee 
hath hearde often, as well before the making of this 
lawe for the King's succession, as since, soe remem- 
breth not presently of whom he hath hearde the same; 
but will endeavour himselfe to remember where hee 
hath heard it, and the same declare accordingly. 

" Item, Examined whether he hath had any private 



74 



LADY JANE GREY. 



conference with any special men, or any other man or 
woman not specified, touchinge the state of the said 
Ladie Marie, he answeareth that he knew not, saying 
to some that he marvayled the would aske him such 
questions : but he saith that hee never had any private 
conferences with any man touchinge specyell matter, 
other than is expressed. 

" Item, Hee being examined, whether hee hath at 
any time heard y e name of bona fides parentum of Dr. 
Wolman, Dr. Bell, or Dr. Knight, saith nay. 

" Item, Being examined whether he knoweth of any 
conventicle devised, or sitte forth by any pson or psons 
for the advancement of the said Ladie Mary*; an- 
swereth, none otherwise than is before declared.'' 1 

* At this period, Mary was denied the title of Princess, by- 
royal proclamation: and in the British Museum, Cott. Coll. 
Otho, c. x. 254, there is a curious examination of Dame Anne 
Huse, about her visiting the Lady Mary, and stiling her Prin- 
cess, after the declaration of the monarch's pleasure. 




AND HEB TIMES. 75 



SECTION II. 

Succession to the Throne, how contemplated by Henry VIII. — 
Royal Marriages negotiated — Sorrows of Princess Mary — 
Birth of Lady Jane Grey — Progress of Reformation at the 
Birth of Lady Jane — Cranmer's Letter respecting the English 
Liturgy —Anecdotes of the English Bible — Family Anecdotes 
of the Greys — Description of their Family Mansion at Brad- 
gate — Feudal Manners, and Sketches of Society — Progress of 
domestic Refinement — Birth of Edward VI. — Courtly and 
chivalrous Anecdotes — Dudley Family — Infancy of our He- 
roine — Early Promise — State of Literature, and of Female 
Education — Anecdotes of Erasmus, &c. ; of Bishop Aylmer ; 
of Ascham— Lady Jane educated in the reformed Religion, 
&c— Queen Katherine Parr, &c. &c. 

Notwithstanding the King's final regulation of the 
descent of the crown to Mary, next after the demise of 
Edward, it was certainly, at one period, in the 29th of 
his reign, A. D. 1537, his intention to have arranged 
matters otherwise, as appears from a letter written by 
him to Sir Thomas Wiatt # , wherein he details an 
offer, which the ambassadors of Charles V. had then 
seemed to agree to, that she should be married to the 
Prince of Portugal, Don Louis, with a fortune of 
100,000 crowns ; but with a proviso, that she should 

* Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. 282, p. 1. 



76 LADY JANE GRE-1, 

not succeed to the throne of England, except upon the 
death of all the King's other issue, then born, or to be 
born. To give her something of regal state, however, 
the Duchy of Milan was, in that case, to have been 
granted to Don Louis. 

This plan did not succeed ; yet was afterwards re- 
vived, when it was in agitation to unite the young Ed- 
ward with one of Charles's daughters, whilst Elizabeth 
was to have been married either to a son of the King 
of the Romans, or to one of the Princes of Savoy. 

Poor Mary, indeed, seems at this time to have been 
sent a begging; for she was offered to the Duke of 
Orleans, then to the Duke of Cleves and Juliers, then 
to the Duke of Urbino, &c. 

Such was the probable state of the future succession 
to the crown of England at the period of our heroine's 
birth, which took place at Bradgate, in Leicestershire, 
as generally believed, in the year 1737, but the pre- 
cise date is uncertain, the destruction of the mona- 
steries and church registers having caused the loss of all 
records of that nature. It was however a most important 
period to the friends of rational religious liberty ; as 
much had already been done on that subject, although 
neither Henry's principles nor practice were of a nature 
much connected with the purity of Christian faith. 

Perhaps the exact progress and state of the re- 
formation, at this precise period, will be best illustrated 



A XI) HER TIMES. 77 

by the following letter from Cranmer to Secretary 
Cromwell*: 

" After most hartie comendacyons unto your lord- 
ship, Theys shall be to sygnifie unto you that I with 
other bushopps and lerned men here assembled by the 
King's comandment, have almost made an end of our 
determinacions ; for we have alredie subscribed unto 
the declaracions of the Pater Noster and the Ave 
Maria, the Crede, and the Ten Comandements ; and 
there remayneth no more but certeyn notes of the 
Crede, unto the whyche we be aggreed to subscribe 
on Monday nexte ; Whyche all, when they shall be 
subscribed, I pray you that I may know your mynde 
and pleasure, whether I shal send them incontynentlye 
unto you, or leaue them in my Lorde of Hereforde's 
hands, to be delyvred by hym when he comyth nexte 
unto the courte. Besechyng you, my Lorde, there- 
fore to be the intercessour unto the King's highness for 
us all, that we may haue hys gracious lycence to de- 
pert for thys tyme untyl his grace's further pleasur be 
known, for thay dye almost evry where in London, we 
find ; and in Lambeth they dye at my gate, even at 
the next house to me. I would fayne see the King's 
highnes at my departing ; but I feare me that I shall 
not, by cause that I shall run from this smoking ayre ; 

* Brit. Mus. Cotton Cleop. E. v. 52. 



to LADY JANE GREY, 

yet I would gladly knowe the King's pleasur herin, 
less where you granted unto me leve to visit my 
dioces this yere, I beseche you that I may haue your 
leve to .... to put that in my comission. Whereon I 
beseche your lordeshipp not to forget to be a sewtor 
for me unto the Kyng's highnes concerning myn ex- 
change, and specially for the remyssion of such debtes 
as ar yet behinde unpaid which I owe unto his grace. 
Thus, my lorde, right hastely fare you well. At 
Lambeth this XXI. daye of Julye. 

" On this I pray you shew unto me your advyse 
howe I shall ordre in my said visitacions such psons as 
have transgressyd the King's grace's intentions. 
Y r euer and assured, 

T. Cantuarius." 

In addition to what is here stated by the archbishop, 
we may subjoin, that although the Bible was now 
printed in English, yet its sale seems not to have been 
very rapid ; for in the same volume of MSS. is a letter 
from Richard Grafton to Secretary Cromwell, praying 
that all other persons shall be forbidden, for three 
years, to print any other edition of it in the vulgar 
tongue, and until that he shall have sold his edition of 
1500 copies; or else that all curates and popish mo- 
nasteries shall be forced to buy them*. 

* The translation, by Wickliff, of the Bible was circulated 
by written copies ; and the first English Bible, or rather the 



AND HER TIMES. 79 

Along with this is also a licence from Francis I. of 
France to Grafton, to print the English Bible at Paris. 
It was, however, as appears from a letter of Cranmer's, 
only on the 13th of August, 1537, that the royal 
licence was obtained for the open sale of Bibles in 
England. 

Much opprobrium has been thrown upon the character 
of Henry, father of Lady Jane, by various writers, but 
there still seems much truth in what Brooke says, in 
his Catalogue of Nobility, that, by his cotemporaries, 
he was esteemed a man of great personal courage and 
much generosity ; that he wanted not ambition, though 
he was a reserved man ; loved to live in his own way, and 
was rather desirous to keep up that magnificence, for 
which our ancient nobility were so much distinguished, 
in the place of his residence in the country, than to 
involve himself in the intrigues of a court. 

It was in consequence of this fondness for rural life, 



New Testament only, ever printed, was in 1526. It was trans- 
lated by Tindal, with some assistance, and was printed either at 
Hamburgh or Antwerp. In 1530 Tindal revised his translation, 
and a second edition was printed abroad, and sent over by stealth 
into England ; almost the whole of the first impression having 
been bought up by Tonstal, Bishop of London, and Sir Thomas 
More, and burnt at Paul's Cross. 

This second edition was proceeded against, and condemned 
in the Star Chamber in 1531; but at the same time the King 
ordered a new translation to be made, by the most learned of the 



80 



■ ADY JANE GREY, 



that at her birth, he was resident at his seat of Brad- 
gate, in Leicestershire, situate on the edge of Cham- 
wood forest; about two miles from Groby Castle, 
two from Mountsorrel, and four from Leicester, of 
which, at the present day, there are some venerable 
remains, that show it to have been a magnificent old 
mansion. 




two universities, " that the people might not be ignorant in the 
law of God." 

This order, however, was neglected by the bishops ; nay, the 
new Bishop of London, Stokesly, bought up all Tindal's copies 
that he could procure, with many other books, and burnt them 
at St. Paul's. In 1537 Grafton and Whitchurch had their Bible 
printed at Hamburgh ; when the King ordered, as Grafton had 
petitioned, that it should be read by all curates, and set up in 
all parish churches throughout the kingdom. 

A second edition of this was printed at Paris, " there being 
better paper and cheaper to be had in France, and more dexterous 
workmen ;" but the inquisitor general there soon took the matter 



AND HER TIMES. Si 

Of its state at that period, illustrative of the manners 
of the time, we find a description in Leland, who 
visited it in his perambulation through the kingdom, 
by order of Henry VIII. He says, " From Leicester 
to Brodegate, by grounde welle wooddid, 3 miles. At 
Brodegate is a faire parke, and a lodge lately buildid 
there by the lorde Thomas Gray, Marquise of Dorsete, 
father to Henry, that is now marquise. There is a 
fair and plentiful spring of water brought by master 
Brok, as a man would juge, agayne the hille, thoroug 
the lodge, and thereby it drivith a mylte." 

The reason of the family residing at Bradgate, in 
preference to Groby, is evident from what Leland says 
of that ancient castle : " From Brodegate to Groby, 



up as an affair of heresy, the printer was arrested, and the 
Englishmen employed were forced to fly ; and the whole im- 
pression of 2500 was seized, and all burnt, except a few which 
were sold for waste paper. 

Soon after the parties concerned went to Paris and got the 
presses, matrices, and workmen, whom they brought over to 
London, where, in 1540, the large Bible was printed. 

Many translations have been made since ; but the one, in ge- 
neral use in this country, is that translated by order of James I. 
by fifty-four learned men, in three years, and first printed in 
1611. When the translation was completed, six of the translators 
were appointed to meet and revise the whole, which took them 
nine months. — Their pay for this latter labour was only 30*-. a 
week each, which was given them by the Stationers' Company: 
what they received for the translation, we do not know. One 
of these learned translators was Mr. Boyes, afterwards a prebend 
of Ely. His capacity was such, that at five years of age he read 
the Bible in Hebrew. 



82 LADY JANE GREY, 

a mile and a halfe much by wodden lande. There 
remayne few tokens of the old castelle, more then that 
yet is the hille that the kepe of the castelle stoode on 
very notable ; but there is now no stone work upon it." 
That this castle had been permitted to go to decay 
may, perhaps, in a great measure, have been owing to 
the change of manners, which had been rising towards 
comfort, if not to elegance, from the period of tran- 
quillity commencing with the union of the Houses of 
York and Lancaster, on the marriage of Henry VII. 
and Elizabeth; those gloomy edifices, raised with a 
view principally to defence, being totally unfit for that 
extension of domestic comfort now spreading through 
the kingdom. That it was, however, so utterly ruinous 
at that period, as Leland's description may be supposed 
to designate, is not probable ; for fifty years afterwards, 
in 1590, Wyrley, a writer of that day, expressly says, 
that the existing ruins showed it to have been large 
and stately ; and the park still remained. 

Indeed, Leland only positively states the keep to 
have been destroyed, but not the site deserted ; for 
he adds, that " the late Lord Thomas Marquesh 
filled up the ditch of it with earth, entending to make 
an herbare there." He then goes on to state, that 
" the ould parte of the worke that now is at Groby 
was made by the Fen-ares." He even appears to say 
that some additions to the castle generally had been 
made very recently, although these buildings have 



AND HEB TIMES. 83 

since been described as at Bradgate, for he adds, 
" But newer workes and buildings there at Bradgate* 
were erected by the Lorde Thomas, first Marquesh 
of Dorset; among the which workes he began and 
erected the fundation and waulles of a greate gate 
house of brike, and a tour, but that was lefte halfe 
on finishid of hym, and so it standith yet. This 
Lord Thomas erected also and almost finishid ij 
toures of brike in the fronte of the house, as re- 
spondent on each side to the gate-house. There is 
a faire large parke by the place, a vi miles in com- 
pase. There is also a poore village (Newtown Lin- 
pret) by the place, and a little broke (brook) by it. 
And a quarter of a mile from the place in the botom 
there is as faire and large a pole (pool) as lightely is in 

* Mr. Nichols, in his History of Leicestershire, vol. iii. 
p. 666, says, that the words " at Bradgate" are a variation 
taken from Mr. Burton's transcript of Leland, given by Thomas 
Allen, Esq. Lord of Finchley, to Dr. Stukely in 1758, and pur- 
chased by Mr. Gough at the sale of the doctor's library, 1766 ; 
and in another transcript, purchased by the same gentleman at 
the sale of Mr. Thomas, the architect's library, in 1801. 

On a close examination, however, of the description by 
Leland, it does not appear as if that interpolation is judicious, 
the facts there stated appearing rather to refer to Groby than to 
Bradgate. 

Yet it must not be denied that Mr. Nichols' opinion is in 
opposition to this, as he expressly says — " The printed editions, 
and Leland's own MS. have only the single word there, imply- 
ing that the brick towers were at Groby ; and thus Sir William 
Dugdale understood the passage. But from personal inspection 
of the ruins at both places, I have little doubt but that the 
reading here adopted is correct." 

c; 2 



84 LADY JANE GREY, 

Leyrcestershire. There issuith a broket out of thys 
lake, that after cummith by Groby, and there dryvith 
a mylle, and after resortith to Sore river. ,, 

That the family establishment of the marquess must 
have been upon a grand scale at the period in ques- 
tion, is evident from Leland's further statement. — 
" From Brodegate to Lughborow about a v miles. 
First, I cam oute of Bradgate Parke unto the forest of 
Charley, commonly callid the wast. This forest is a 
xx miles or more in cumpace, having plenty of woode ; 
and the most parte of it at this time longgith to the 
Marquise of Dorsete, the residew to the king, and 
Erie of Huntingdune. In the forest is no good towne, 
nor scant a village. 

" Riding almost in the entering of this forest, I saw 
2 or 3 quarres or hilles of slate stone, longging to the 
Marquise of Dorsete. And riding a little farther, 
I left the parke of Bewmanor, closid with a stone 
walle, and a pratie logge yn it, longging alate to 
Beaumont. 

" This parke cam to the Marquise of Dorsete by 
exchange of landes with the king. Thens a little 
way of to Burley Parke, now longging also to the 
Marquise of Dorsete. Thens scant a mile to Lough- 
borow. The ruins of Whitewik CasteU long now by 
permutation to the Marquise of Dorsete." 

By this exchange of lands with the king, it is evi- 
dent that the marquess had given up all idea even of 



AND I IKK TIMES. 



85 



temporary residence at the ancient family seat of the 
Widvilles, at Grafton, in Northamptonshire, which his 
father had inherited from Richard, the third Earl of 
Rivers, with the single stipulation in his will that 
there should be as much underwood sold out of the 
woods at Grafton as would buy a bell, to be a tenor 
to the bells of the parish church, for the remembrance 
of the last of the blood. Indeed, it is probable that 
Grafton was not a mansion of any great extent* ; at 
least, the family establishment of this the last earl 
must have been but small, for though he bequeathed 
to the parish church all the cattle which he then had 
at Grafton, to the intent that the priests there should 
yearly keep an obit for his soul, consisting of a dirge 
and masse of requiem, to be performed by the curate, 
four priests, and four clerks, also an herse and four 
tapers ; yet those cattle did not consist of more than 
two oxen, five kine, and two bullocks ; a small stock 
when compared with the style of housekeeping of the 
feudal barons of that age. In addition to the cattle, 
he gave five-pence wages to each priest, and three- 
pence to each clerk. 

By these exchanges the marquess seems to have been 
sole possessor of the lands for miles around his man- 
sion, with scarcely a neighbour, if any, qualified to 

* Nichols, in his Leicestershire, observes, that a palace was 
afterwards built by Henry VIII. at Grafton, but destroyed in 
the civil wars. 



86 LADY JANE GREY, 

associate with his family on terms of intimacy. In- 
deed, the only person with the rank of gentleman, no- 
ticed by Leland, is thus introduced : — " From Brode- 
gate to Bellegrave village a 4 miles by woddy and 
pasture grounde. This village is about a mile lower 
on Sore then Leircester is ; and I cam over a great 
stone bridge or I enterid into it. There dewellith a 
gentilmen by the name of Bellegrave, a men of a 50 
li. of possessions by the yere. There is also a nother 
mene gentilman of the Bellegraves yn Leircestershire. r> 
The house of Bradgate, then standing at the birth 
of Lady Jane, was built by her grandfather Thomas, 
the second marquess, and is called by Burton, " a very 
faire, large, and beautiful house," as then standing in 
1608. 

Should any of our fair readers wish to trace the 
scenes of early life of our interesting heroine, we may 
here notice, on the authority of the accurate and inde- 
fatigable Mr. Nichols, that the old mansion house was 
built principally of brick ; a square with four turrets 
are at each corner. Enough of the walls still remain to 
assist the fancy in tracing out the various apartments, 
especially some vestiges of the kitchen ; and the vaults 
or cellars are now overgrown with nettles and alder. 
The garden walls are nearly entire, and the garden 
terrace may still be seen. The author already 
quoted describes a little stream as running by the side 
of the garden, near which stand some beautiful old 



AND REB XIMSS. 87 

chestnut trees, which, especially when in bloom, giye 
the whole an air of grandeur. He adds, that the 
pleasure grounds are easily distinguishable ; and though 
they have now somewhat the appearance of a wilder- 
ness, yet they strongly indicate that once, where the 
nettle and the thistle now reign in peace, the rose and 
the lily sprang luxuriantly. The park is still very 
extensive, and walled round, and well stocked with 
deer ; it is famous for very fine fern ; and the pro- 
spects in it are unusually romantic, from the inter- 
mixture of venerable trees and rugged rocks ; whilst 
from a hill called Old John there is a most extensive 
view over seven counties. It is not very many years 
since it has thus become a complete ruin ; for, very 
recently, an aged person remembered the principal 
part of the house quite entire. He had been in all 
the rooms, and noticed that there was a door out of 
the dining room into the chapel. 

The careful observer may yet discover some traces 
of the tilt yard ; but the courts are now occupied by 
rabbits, and shaded with chestnut trees and mulberries. 
The lover of the picturesque will be particularly struck 
with the approach from Thurcaston, especially at 
the keeper's lodge, where the view is truly enchanting. 
On the left appears a large grove of venerable trees ; 
on the right are the ruins of the mansion, surmounted 
by rugged rocks and aged oaks ; the forest hills, with 
the tower on the hill called Old John, forming the 



88 LADY J AXE GBEY, 

back ground of the prospect: whilst tne valley, 
through which the trout stream runs, extends in front, 
with clumps to shade the deer, and terminates in a 
narrow winding glen, thickly clothed with an urn- 
bragious shade*. 

Such was the birthplace of our heroine ; but the 
manners of that day also require some illustration. 

There was then, as long before, great magnificence 
exhibited by the higher orders of nobility; who, as 
well expressed by a modern antiquary, seated in their 
castles, lived in a state and splendour very much re- 
sembling, and scarce inferior, to that of the royal court. 
Their household was established upon the same plan — 
their officers bore the same tides — and their warrants 
ran in the same form and style. On this subject, the 
same author adds, that the extreme minuteness of the 
household arrangements of that day may excite sur- 
prise, but may easily be explained upon historic prin- 
ciples ; for as our nobility, in the more early times, 
lived in their castles with a gross and barbarous mag- 
nificence, surrounded with rude and warlike followers, 
without control, and without system ; yet as they gra- 
dually emerged from this barbarity, they found it 
necessary to establish very minute domestic regula- 
tions, in order to keep their turbulent followers in peace 
and order. In fact, from living in a state of disorderly 
grandeur, it is not surprising that they should run 
* Vide Nichols' Leicestershire, vol. iii. p. 681. 



AND HER TIMES. 89 

into the opposite extreme of reducing every thing, 
even the most trifling disbursements, to stated formal 
rules. 

The state of society, in short, seems well pictured, 
where it is observed that a noblemen, even up to the 
dawn of learning which was now breaking out, when 
retired to his mansion, had neither books, nor news- 
papers, nor literary correspondence, nor visits, nor 
cards, to fill up his leisure : his only amusements were 
field sports ; and as these, however eagerly pursued, 
could not fill up all his vacant hours, the government 
of his household would therefore be likely enough to 
engage his attention, if he happened to be a prudent 
man; and thus, from a mere desire of employment, 
he would be led to descend to the most studied minute- 
ness in his regulations and establishments. 

All this state, however, was sometimes laid aside ; 
for it appears, by the Percy household book, from 
which many of these notices have been elicited, that at 
certain times of the year* the nobility retired from 
their principal mansion to some little adjoining lodge, 
where they lived private ; no longer kept open house, 
but put their servants upon board wages, dismissed 
part of them to go to their friends, and only retained 
a few of the most necessary about their person. Yet 
in this retirement the nominal state was kept up, at 

* Antiq. Rep. vol. iv. p. 325. 



90 LADY JANE GREY, 

least in some of the great families; for it appears 
that when Percy, the Earl of Northumberland, who 
drew up the well known household book, had retired 
to his privacy, or " secret, r> as called, he still possessed 
his great officers, as represented by his younger sons 
and the young gentlemen who were constantly resident 
with him. 

The interior arrangements of noble mansions were, 
about this period, becoming more commodious. Hi- 
therto, in the castles of the feudal barons, the apart- 
ments had been merely of two kinds ; chambers prin- 
cipally within the castle keep or donjon, or else in the 
smaller towers ; and in small detached edifices within 
the range of the outer walls : but these latter, owing to 
the unskilful architecture of these simple times *, were 
clustered together without any symmetry or beauty. 
The diminution of feudal power, however, under 
Henry VII. had led to the construction of more re- 
gular habitations, though still preserving the fortified 
character of the ancient castle. The nobles still ate 
their meals in Gothic halls, either seated at the high 
table ; or, on days not of very high state, at a table in 
the oreille, or small apartment or recess at the upper 
end, whilst the dependants took their stations at the 
side tables. In fact, the arrangement was similar to 
a dinner in the Temple Hall in term time : only with 
this difference, that at. the baronial board the strictest 
* Antiq. Rep. iv. 327. 



AND HER TIMES. 91 

silence was preserved, except the issuing of the watch- 
words by which the different courses were served up. 

These halls were lofty; but, the windows being at a 
high elevation, were in general obscurely lighted : be- 
sides, being garnished with corslets, helmets, coats of 
mail, shields, lances, pikes, maces, halberds, &c. they 
looked more like the armoury in the Tower than 
places of social mirth or jocund conviviality ; which, 
however, they often were, at specific festivals, when 
mumming, morris-dancing, and other rustic sports, 
were patronised and applauded. The attendance on 
the. superior nobility, in these halls, and of course at 
Bradgate, was not only by menials, but also by gentle- 
men, who did not disdain to accept of household offices, 
and the sons of gentlemen, who were domesticated for 
the purposes of education and formation of manners. 
Of these gentlemen there were some appointed to wait 
before noon, who afterwards had leave to go about their 
own business ; when others came in attendance, to fill 
up the various offices of gentlemen ushers, of carvers, 
servers, cupbearers, gentlemen waiters, marshal, &c. 
The hall and the chapel were the principal apartments 
of castles; the others being too small for baronial 
magnificence. 

Whilst popery existed, the nobility displayed a great 
regard to the grandeur of the choral service in their 
chapels, vying with each other in the splendour, orna- 
ments, and numbers, of their choirs, until even the 



V* LADY JANE GREY, 

council of Trent found it necessary to interpose for 
the restoration of the service to its primitive simplicity 
and dignity ; an object more effectually gained by the 
Reformation. 

Tea and coffee being then unknown, their meals 
were very different from ours. Breakfast consisted of 
bread, beer, wine, salt fish, white herrings, sprats, ling, 
turbot, or other fish, during Lent ; but at other sea- 
sons there were added chines of beef, or of boiled mut- 
ton, chickens, butter, buttered eggs, &c. These must 
have been served up rather coarsely, for forks were not 
then in use ; and therefore washing, both before and 
after meals, became absolutely necessary. 

But if their manners were not very refined at table, 
yet they had most certainly the best of every thing ; as 
appears from a curious document, a very few years 
earlier in date, of the dinner parties in the time of 
Henry VII.* " Their vitaill was not to be singlerly 
nemid, for the moost dilecat deynties and curyous 
mets that might be purveyed or goten within the hoole 
realme of Englande, the which ev r therof hath op- 
teyned the praise and comendacon emonge all other 
cuntres or nacons in the world, blessed by th' auctor 
Almighti God ; bothe flesshe, veneson wilde and tame, 
fisshe, and the remennt of every maner of viand, wynnys 
of all maner of kiend, spices, pleasurs, and subtiltes of 
the cunyng appreparyng of the cooks." 
* Antiq. Rep. ii. 291. 



AND HER TIMES. \)J 

At the dinner hour the custom was, notwithstanding 
their hospitality, to shut the great gates of the castle ; 
the whole establishment sitting down, according to 
gradation, in the hall: sometimes, however, a slight 
alteration was made by laying two tables in the dining 
room, at the first of which sat the lord and his family, 
together with such titled nobles as were on a visit ; at 
the second sat " knights and honourable gentlemen." 
In such case the tables in the hall were generally three : 
at the first sate the steward, comptroller, secretary, 
master of the horse, master of the fish-ponds, the tutor, 
if one in the family, together with such gentlemen as 
came there under the degree of a knight ; at the second 
table, the server, gentlemen waiters, and pages ; at the 
third, the clerk of the kitchen, yeomen, officers of the 
household, grooms of the chambers, &c. 

It was customary, though perhaps in rather later 
times, to have a table in the apartment of the gentle- 
women of the lady's chamber, where also sat the chap- 
lains ; and two in the housekeeper's room for the ladies' 
women. 

The lord's table was attended by the comptroller 
and server, assisted by gentlemen's sons bred up in the 
castle, together with the lord's gentlemen of the cham- 
ber, and the lady's gentleman usher, &c. The second 
table was attended by footmen. 

More attention was paid at this period also to inter- 
nal ornament. The ceilings were now superbly carved, 



94 LADY JANE GREY, 

and the sides of the rooms, except where tapestry was 
used, ornamented with a great profusion of sculpture 
in wood or stucco, exhibiting the armorial bearings of 
the family, together with devices, badges, and various 
family proverbs, set off with all the advantages of 
painting, gilding, and imagery*. The staircases too 
were now of more curious contrivance, with screens, 
embattled at the top, or covered with bold sculpture : 
and the principal apartments were now the gallery, the 
chapel, the lord's chamber, the lady's closet, the gentle- 
women's chamber, the drawing chamber, the great 
chamber, the dining room, and nursery. 

In fact, the lady had as much state in her own 
apartments as in the general family establishment; 
having not only gentlewomen of the chamber, but also 
a groom of the lady's chamber, whose duty was some- 
thing like that of a modern chambermaid — to keep it 
in order. There were pages also ; but these were the 
youngest of the gentlemen's sons, who, as they ad- 
vanced in years, were presented to more manly, or 
rather more masculine offices. 

Some idea of the female domestic manners of the 
time, as just approaching towards our modern luxury, 
and also marking the state and grandeur of Lady Jane's 
family, may be drawn from a letter, (preserved in the 
British Museum f), written by Cecyl, wife of Thomas, 

* Antiq. Hep. iv. 33(5. 

f Brit. Mus. Cotton. Vesp. F. xiii. 91. 



AXD HER TIMES. 95 

Marquess of Dorset, to one of her household, and 
dated from Bedwell : 

" Cromwell, — I woll that you send to me yn hast 
the kusshyn beds of cloth of tyssew, and the fether 
beds with the fustyoun, and a materas, longgyng to the 
same, with the countpoynt. Also I woll that you de- 
lyver all such tents, pavilyons, and halls, as you have 
of myne, or to my sonne Edward, as you tender my 
pleasure. And thys shall be yo r suffysyent warrat 
and discharge att all tymes. Wrytyn at Bedwell thys 
present thursdaye by foore our Lady Daye the assup- 
cyon. 

" Cecyl Dorset. 1 ' 

We may add, that the tables of the great were now 
pretty well supplied with fruit. The superior families 
also set great value upon gardening; and they had 
all manner of European fruits, herbs, and flowers: 
and the gardens, though very formal in parterres and 
terraces, were well kept and trimmed. 

With their fruit they were not deficient in wines ; 
those in use being " Gaskoine," sweet " Itaynish," 
Rochell, &c. At the period of this history, however, 
wine was not very common in general domestic use ; 
but some years afterwards, in the Earl of Worcester's 
establishment at Ragland Castle, it is stated to have 



96 LADY JANE GREY, 

been served up very plentifully, not only at the lord's 
board, but even at the upper tables of the household. 

In regard to some other points of illustration, we 
may record, that the mode of travelling at this period 
must have been very uncomfortable for families ; for it 
was not until about forty years afterwards that coaches 
were first brought into England by the Earl of Arun- 
del. It is true, that the word cJmriot appears in the 
first English translations of the Bible ; but it is evident, 
from contemporary facts, that these chariots were merely 
waggons drawn by six or more horses, for conveying 
the household furniture from one mansion to another, 
as the family changed its residence, for the due con- 
sumption of the produce of the demesnes surrounding 
each castle or mansion of the possessor; for at that 
period a noble lord could not send the produce of his 
meadows to the Haymarket, nor his gooseberries and 
wall-fruit to Covent Garden. 

It has been said, indeed, that the name of chariot 
was given to a kind of litter *, borne up by an axle- 
tree and two wheels ; used by citizens' wives who were 
not able nor allowed to keep ordinary litters. These 
litters were carried by horses, not drawn ; and ladies 
either lay on them, or rode on palfreys with pillions or 
side saddles. 

We have now taken a general view of that state of 
* Antiq. Rep. iv. 328. 



AND HER TIMES. V i 

society and of manners in which our heroine was born to 
mingle, and to ornament, had she escaped the dangers 
of ambition : and have only further to notice some re- 
marks of that intelligent and indefatigable antiquary, 
Mr. Nichols ; who, describing Bradgate in his elaborate 
work on Leicestershire, observes most justly, that it 
is impossible to think on the sweet disposition and 
wonderful accomplishments of Lady Jane, without 
having the heart elated by the sublimest, as well as by 
the tenderest feelings. He exclaims, how interested 
must we feel about Bradgate when we recollect it was 
not only the birthplace, but the scene of the happy 
childhood, and the early studies of this incomparable 
heroine. Yet perhaps the phrase " happy childhood" 
is not most appropriately given to that period of her 
life ; for Fuller states, that although she was bred by 
her parents, according to her high birth, in religion and 
in learning, yet they were no whit indulgent to her in 
childhood, but extremely severe, more than needed to 
so sweet a temper ; for, as he asks, what need of iron 
instruments to bow wax ? But then he adds, that as 
the sharpest winters, correcting the rankness of the 
earth, cause the more healthful and fruitful summers ; 
so the harshness of her breeding compacted her soul 
to the greater patience and piety, whence she after- 
wards proved the mirror of her age. 

Of her very earliest years of infancy, we have not 
been able, after the strictest research, to procure many 



98 LADY JANE GREY, 

particulars : except that her first appearance in public 
was at the ceremony of baptism ; which must undoubt- 
edly have taken place in the church at Bradgate ; such 
being then the custom with highest in rank, the Princess 
Elizabeth, as we find in Hall's Chronicle, being bap- 
tized in the church, and not in a private chapel. It is 
true, that private, nay, even lay baptism, was then 
permitted, but only in cases of necessity ; for which 
purpose females, (accoucheuses) were actually licensed 
by the bishops to perform that sacred rite. That 
ceremony, however, was Roman catholic ; and how far 
the reformists then adhered to Romish rituals it is not 
easy to ascertain. 

In Henry the Eighth's Prayer-book, or " Prymer," 
(which we have examined, and of which we believe 
there is but one copy in the metropolis), there is not 
any particular form laid down; nor, if there were, 
could we positively state it to be that used at Lady 
Jane's baptism ; for, between the printing of that 
prayer-book and its publication in 1544, Henry's 
mind seems to have undergone various changes in 
regard both to religious forms and opinions. In 
fact, many parts are crossed out with a pen, by au- 
thority, leaving out whole prayers, whilst, in other 
places, prayers printed for " our Lady" have that ad- 
dress scratched out, and the supplication addressed, by 
written interpolation in the margin, to our Lord and 
Saviour ! We shrink from any thing like irreverent 



AND HER TIMES. 99 

jest or light sarcasm upon a subject so awful ; but we 
cannot state the case in more cautious language. It is, 
however, too curious a fact, in regard to the progress 
of the reformed religion, to pass unnoticed. 

To judge of the probable mode of conducting the 
ceremony in question, it is sufficient to state that the 
whole of the family, with their guests, godfathers, and 
godmothers, &c. formed a long procession from the 
mansion to the parish church : sometimes indeed of 
great length, for the number of sponsors, of both sexes, 
was at this period unlimited. It is probable, that the 
dowager marchioness was present at this ceremony, 
for at that of Elizabeth, only a few years before, she 
appeared as godmother ; her son the marquess, Lady 
Jane's father, also attending in the procession, in which, 
in his robes of estate, he bore the salt. 

When the procession arrived at the church door, it 
was met by the clergyman, and the child was there 
named, after a short prayer. It is probable, on the 
occasion in question, that the Rev. Mr. Harding, then 
family chaplain at Bradgate, was either the officiating 
or assisting priest; but on this precise point our re- 
search has been unavailing. The name being given, 
the infant was carried to the font, which then stood in 
the middle of the church, and not in the baptistery, 
with a canopy over it, upon occasions of great state, to 
preserve the consecrated water from pollution. The 
water was not, in general, consecrated upon each oc- 

i< 2 



100 LADY JANE GREY, 

casion, but only once a month, during which time it 
was allowed to remain in the font ; and this was the 
case for some time after Lady Jane's baptism, as ap- 
pears by the first liturgy of Edward VI. the forms in 
which, we have reason to believe, were strictly in con- 
sonance with the reformed ritual previously adopted, 
but not confirmed by authority. From thence it ap- 
pears, that the introductory prayer was, that Jesus 
Christ, upon whom, when he was baptized, the Holy 
Ghost came down in the form of a dove, would send 
down the same Holy Spirit to sanctify the fountain of 
baptism ; after which it was the custom to dip the 
child in the water thrice : first on the right side ; then 
on the left ; and finally with its face into the font ; a 
trine immersion in honour of the holy Trinity. Sprink- 
ling, as now, was not then practised ; nor, indeed, until 
some time after in Elizabeth's reign, when the clergy, 
exiled during Mary's tyranny, returned from Geneva, 
and introduced that with other continental reformed 
customs : it is necessary to add, however, that pouring 
or sprinkling had been allowed in cases of danger to 
the health of the infant. It certainly appears that the 
dipping was both a sometimes dangerous and always 
an indelicate custom; but there is reason to believe 
that, at least in the case of adults, a robe fitted close to 
the form was permitted. 

After the child was baptized, the custom was for 
the sponsors to impose their hands upon it; after 



AND HEB TIMES. 101 

which the minister put on to the young christian a 
white vestment, commonly called the chrysorne, or 
chresom, saying, " Take this white vestment as a 
token of the innocency which, by God's grace, in this 
holy sacrament of baptism, is given unto thee : and 
for a sign, whereby thou art admonished, so long as 
thou livest, to give thyself to innocence of living, that 
after this transitory life thou may est be partaker of the 
life everlasting," — a form of adjuration most pointedly 
applicable to the young christian in question, and of 
which all our succeeding sheets will present an interest- 
ing illustration. 

After the anointing, or unction, which was still pre- 
served from former rituals, the gifts of the sponsors 
were offered ; consisting generally of articles rather of 
ornament than use. At the baptism of Elizabeth, 
already noticed, the gift of Lady Jane's grandmother 
consisted of three gilt bowls with covers. This done, 
then refreshments w r ere brought into the church, of 
wafers, comfits, and hypocrass, a spiced wine; and 
in such plenty, that all present might freely partake 
and enjoy abundantly. Preparations were then made 
for the returning procession ; in which the sponsorial 
presents were borne before the infant : and the com- 
pany were regaled at the mansion, agreeable to the 
forms of feudal hospitality, with such additional amuse- 
ments in the festive hall as were suited to the tastes and 
capacities of the lowest retainers of the family, yet in 



102 LADY JANE GREY, 

which the nobility and gentry did not disdain to mix, 
and thus mixing, highly to enjoy, laying aside their 
state amidst the general jollity ! 

As Henry's conduct to the Princess Mary, and his 
cruelty towards Elizabeth's mother, had set them aside, 
as it were, from the succession, people were now 
looking towards the issue of his sisters to fill the 
throne ; but the king was again married to Jane Sey- 
mour, and now had hopes of male issue ; and Prince 
Edward, afterwards Edward VI., was born, in 1538 : 
the public notification of which appears to have been 
made by the queen herself; the following document 
being still extant in the British Museum. 

" By the Queene, 

" Ryght trustie and ryght wellbelovid we greete 

you well ; and forasmuche as by the inestimable good- 

nes and grace of Almyghtie God, we be delivered and 

broughte in childbed of a prince, conceived in most 

lawfull matrimony betweene my lorde the king's ma- 

jestie and us, doubting not but that for the love and 

affection wch ye beare unto us, and to the cofhon- 

wealth of this realme, the knowledge thereof should be 

joyous and glad tydinges unto you, wee have thought 

good to certyfy you of the same, to the intente ye 

mvght not onlie render unto God condigne thankes 

and prayes for so great a benefyte, but also contynu- 

allie prayc for the long continuance and prcscrvatyon 



AND HER TIMES. 103 

of the same here in this lyfe to the honoure of God, 
joye and pleasure of my lorde the kinge and us, and 
the universalle weale, quiet, and tranquilitye of this 
whole realme. Given under our signet at my lorded 
manor of Hampton Courte, the xij . day of October. 11 

From this birth both Henry and the nation had 
great hopes, which were fully confirmed by the early 
promise of the prince : so that the young Edward soon 
became not only a subject of ^conversation at the fire- 
sides of all ranks, but even a watch- word in the public 
schools. In the British Museum* there is a MSS. 
which professes to detail how " Mr. Heme, a school- 
master, incited his unwilling scholars to apply them- 
selves more diligently to their books, and to improve 
in their learning, by their emulating the example of 
their prince. 11 

In short, the prince's fame began to spread over Eu- 
rope : his father, however, seems not to have been so 
much admired ; for in the Museum -j- there is a letter 
from Thomas Parrie to Ralph Vane, one of Lord 
Cromwell's gentlemen, written in 1539, telling him 
how cruelly he had been used in the inquisition at 
Seville, for saying that Henry VIII. was a good 
christian; whereas the holy inquisitors said that he 
was a heretic, and if they had him there, all the world 
should not save him from burning ! 

* Harl. Coll. 419. 38. t Hail. Coll. 295. 



104 LADY JaNE grey, 

This was likely enough ; but Henry was better oc- 
cupied at his own court, which was now held in great 
state, both in town and at Hampton. Some of the 
customs were curious. On New Year's Day, 1540, 
the Marquess of Dorset presented to King Henry a 
brace of greyhounds; to which the dowager mar- 
chioness added a garter, the buckle and pendant of 
which were of gold. The young marchioness presented 
" a lynnen and two collors, the turrets gilte". A shirt of 
cambric, wrought with silk, formed the offering of the 
Marquess's brother, the Lord Richard; whilst Lord 
Leonard sent an Irish ambling hobby; and their sister, 
the Lady Margaret, presented twelve handkerchiefs 
edged with gold. The monarch seems to have returned 
presents of equal value : to the marquess a gilt glass 
with a gold cover ; to the dowager a gilt cruise with a 
cover; to the young marchioness a gold cup with a 
cover ; and similar remembrances to the other branches 
of the Dorsets. There were many others of the 
same nature from various nobles, but we only record 
those, as more particularly relative to Lady Jane's 
family. 

We may here add, that Sir John Dudley, after- 
wards Duke of Northumberland, and father-in-law to 
Lady Jane, was now rising into rank and opulence, as 
well as into high favour both with king and people. He 
had been long attendant both upon the court and 
camp; but in this year, 1540, lie exhibited himself 



AND HIAl TIMES. 105 

more pointedly as a candidate for splendid fame, ac- 
cording to the chivalrous manners of that day. His re- 
sidence, either now or very soon afterwards, appears to 
have been fixed at Durham House, built in the Strand, 
at a place formerly called Ivybridge, by Thomas de 
Hatfield, then Bishop of Durham, in 1345, about the 
26th of Henry VIII. However, it came to the crown 
by an exchange with Bishop Tonstall, and was granted 
by that monarch, in 1540, for some temporary re- 
joicings and entertainments connected with what Stowe 
calls " a great and triumphant justing," held on May- 
day in the Tilt Yard at Westminster. This tournament 
had been proclaimed in Flanders, Scotland, and in 
Spain, for all comers who would undertake the English 
challengers, six in number ; Sir John Dudley, after- 
wards Northumberland, Sir Thomas Seymour, after- 
wards Lord Sudley, Sir Thomas Poynings, Sir George 
Carew, Kts., together with Anthony Kingston and 
Richard Cromwell, Esquires. 

On the appointed day, these gallant knights and 
esquires rode into the tilt-yard richly apparelled in 
brilliant armour, with all due heraldic insignia, and 
their horses trapped in white velvet. To oppose their 
prowess there were no less than forty-six respondents, 
all of whom, however, were English, as far as their 
names appear; the Earl of Surrey, Lord William 
Howard, Lord Clinton, and Lord Cromwell, son to 



106 LADY JANE GREY, 

the Earl of Essex. After the justs were performed*, 
the challengers rode to Durham House, where they 
kept open household during the tournaments, and 
feasted the king and queen, with her ladies, and all the 
court. 

On the second day, the king was so pleased with the 
gallantry and chivalrous bearing of the two esquires 
challenging, Kingston and Cromwell, that he bestowed 
the honour of knighthood on them. Stowe tells us 
that the 3d day of May, the said challengers did tour- 
ney, on horseback with swoids, and against them came 
forty-nine defendants ; Sir John Dudley and the Earl 
of Surry running first, who at the first course lost 
their gauntlets ; and that day Sir Richard Cromwell 
overthrew master Palmer and his horse in the field, to 
the great honour of the challengers. 

The 5th of May the challengers fought on foot at 
the barriers, and against them came fifty defendants, 
who fought valiantly ; but Sir Richard Cromwell over- 
threw, that day, at the barriers, master Culpepper in 
the field. 

On the 6th day the challengers broke up their 
household; and Stowe goes on to inform us that 
during this tournament, they had not only feasted 
the king, queen, ladies, and all the court, as is before 
showed, but also they cheered all the knights and bur- 
* Stowe's Survey. 



AND HER TIMES. 107 

gesses of the Commons House of Parliament, and en- 
tertained the Mayor of London, with the aldermen and 
their wives, at a dinner. 

The king, as a special mark of favour and approba- 
tion, gave to each of the challengers, and to their heirs 
for ever, in reward of their valiant activity, one hun- 
dred marks, and a house to dwell in, of yearly revenue 
out of the lands pertaining to the hospital of St. John 
of Jerusalem ; the gateway of which still remains, and 
is known as St. John's Gate, near Smithfield. 

When Edward came to the crown, he granted Dur- 
ham House to his sister Elizabeth for life, or until she 
were otherwise advanced ; and, as she did not take up 
her residence in town, it was probably from her that it 
may have been rented, or borrowed by Lady Jane's 
father, or else by the Duke of Northumberland; at 
least Lady Jane was certainly resident there some 
time after her marriage, and at the period of her being 
called to the throne. 

In the old plan of London, this house appears to 
have been a noble pile, agreeable to the architecture 
of that day ; at least, in its front to the river : but 
towards the close of the century it seems to have fallen 
into decay, for Stowe says it was well known and ob- 
served that the outward part belonging thereto, and 
standing north from the houses, was but a low row of 
stables, old, ruinous, ready to fall, and very unsightly 
in so public a passage to the court and to Westminster. 



108 LADY JANE GREY, 

This was taken down, and various alterations ensued ; 
but these are irrelevant to the present subject; it is 
enough to add, that the house of the Society of Arts, 
and part of the Adelphi, now stands upon the site of 
the house and gardens, and that a small portion of the 
original mansion may still be traced in the right hand 
wall going down into Durham Yard from the Strand. 

In all these court festivities the Marquess of Dorset's 
family, when in town, bore a part ; but Lady Jane, 
being still in her infancy, resided at Bradgate, where 
she already was taught to attend close to her studies. 
The Brandon family also, as relatives of the monarch, 
were constant at court : but the Princess Mary, though 
now in womanhood, was not permitted to appear ; be- 
sides which she had other sources of vexation and dis- 
appointment. 

In fact, Mary's disappointments in regard to mar- 
riage began whilst Lady Jane was yet an infant ; for 
in 1541, a treaty of union between her and the Duke of 
Orleans had been proposed by the French ambassador. 
This was in part acceded to by the king, who directed 
instructions to be sent to his ambassador at Paris for its 
furtherance, and offering such dower as Mary, the 
king's sister, had brought when she married King 
Lewis. In these instructions*, indeed, it appears 
that little dependence was placed on the offers made ; 
they being considered as rather made in reference to 
* Brit. Mus, Ayscough, No. 1149. 2. 



AND HEB TIMES. 



109 



the payment of arrearages on certain pensions, and as 
more in show than in substance. On the part of the 
English court, also, a portion was demanded for the 
duke equivalent to that of the proposed bride. The 
negotiation, however, from the first, appears not to 
have had any probable chance of success, as they were 
accompanied with a complaint " of great wronges done 
to us at sea by the French" 

But the king's opinion upon this subject was even 
more strongly expressed in the following year, when 
he declared that he considered the diplomatic demands 
of portion with Mary, and of the arrearages of pensions 
to be discharged, to be " grounded rather upon a de- 
sire of gaine and lucre, than upon good amide." It 
was further added in the instructions to Mr. Pagett, 
our ambassador, that the " amitie should preced mar- 
riage, which this demand held no conference with," and 
therefore referred to one more reasonable. 

The very early promise of genius and excellence in 
Lady Jane induced her parents, especially as they 
had no sons, to afford her every facility even of a 
learned education Education was, as yet, indeed but 
in its infancy Learning, in general, was little more 
than downright pedantry ; whilst amongst the fashion- 
able world, the conversation and habits of life were as 
starched as their dresses. Both classes, gentry and 
citizens, lived in great ignorance : they had little learn- 



110 LADY J AXE GREY, 

ing themselves ; and few of them thought of improving 
their children. Severity too was their most frequent 
engine ; and, whether at home or at school, the youth 
of both sexes were kept in order more by fear than 
love. Daughters, in particular, even in womanhood, 
are described as being obliged to stand at the cupboard 
side during visits ;' except when permitted to have a 
cushion to kneel on : and then also it was not unusual, 
even before company, for ladies of the first rank to 
correct their grown up daughters with the large fans 
which it was the fashion to carry. 

Even the amiable and ingenious Jane appears to 
have been too much subjected to this treatment, yet 
she improved daily, it may be said, in spite of it. 

In an elegy, written after her death, by Sir Thomas 
Chaloner, she is commended not only for her beauty, 
but also for that which was a greater charm, her in- 
telligent and interesting style of conversation. He 
speaks too of her stupendous skill in languages, being 
well versed in eight, consisting of the Latin, Greek, 
Hebrew, Chaldaic, Arabic, French, and Italian, be- 
sides that of her native land, in which she was well 
grounded. He further observes, that she had a na- 
tural wit, and that much improved by art and study. 
She played well on instrumental music. She wrote an 
excellent hand ; and she was as excellent at her needle. 

Notwithstanding all these endowments, Chaloner af- 



AND HER TIMES. Ill 

firms, that she was of a mild, humble, and modest 
spirit, and never showed an elated mind until she ma- 
nifested it at her death. 

To boarding-school misses of the present day it 
may seem strange, that young ladies in those times 
should have troubled themselves with so many tongues, 
but the fact is not the less certain ; as we are told by 
Udal, in his dedication to Queen Katherine Parr, of 
the translation of Erasmus's Paraphrase on the Four 
Gospels, that a "greet number of noble women at that 
time in England were given to the studie of human 
sciences and of strange tongues." In short, he says, 
that " it was a common thyng to see young virgins so 
nouzled and trained in the study of letters, that thei 
willyngly set all other vain pastymes at naught for learn- 
ynge's sake. It was now no news at all to see queens and 
ladies of most high estate and progenie, instede of courtly 
daliaunce to embrace virtuous exercises, readyng and 
writyng, and with moste earneste studie both erlye and 
late, to apply themselves to the acquiryng of knowledge 
as well as all other liberal arts and disciplines, as also 
most specially of God and his most holy writ. And 
in this behalf, lyke as to your highnesse, as well for 
composyng and settyng forth many godly psalmes and 
diverse other contemplative meditations, as also for 
causyng these paraphrases to be translated into our 
vulgare language, England can never be able to render 
thanks sufficient." 



112 



LADY JANE GREY, 



Not only did languages form a great part of female 
education, but philosophy also ; such as it was at that 
day, bursting from the trammels of the schools and of 
catholic ignorance: for if, at this period, philosophy 
was much indebted to the revival of letters, it was not 
less benefited by the reformation of religion. 

No sooner did the friends of truth and virtue apply 
themselves to the correction of religious errors, and en- 
deavour to free mankind from the yoke of ecclesiastical 
domination, to which the whole western world had for 
ages tamely submitted, than philosophy, which had 
been loaded with the same chains with religion, began 
to lift up her head and to breathe a freer air*. 

Determined no longer to yield implicit obedience to 
human authority, but to exercise their own under- 
standings, and follow their own judgments, these bold 
reformers prosecuted religious and philosophical in- 
quiries with an independent spirit, which soon led them 
to discover the futility and absurdity of the scholastic 
method of philosophising; and enabled them, at the 
same time, in a great measure, to correct the errors of 
philosophy, and to reform the corruptions of religion -f\ 

* Enfield's Philosophy, ii. 413. 

t Great facilities were certainly given to classical learning 
in England about this period, by means of Lily's Grammar. 
Fuller, in his Church History, observes, that Lily was an ex- 
cellent scholar, born at Odiam, in Hampshire, who went on a 
pilgrimage to Jerusalem ; and on his return through Italy, there 
applied himself to his studies, under John Sulpitius and Pom- 



AND HER TIMES. 



113 



How necessary all this was is evident, when we re- 
collect that Greek literature had not begun to revive 

ponius Sabinus. After some time, " returning home into his 
native country well accomplished with Latin, Greek, and all arts 
and sciences, he set forth a grammar, which still goes under his 
name, and is universally taught all over England." The first 
edition of this grammar was in 1513, about the time of the 
foundation of St. Paul's school, of which Lily was appointed the 
first master; respecting which Fuller says that formerly in 
England there were almost as many grammars as schoolmasters, 
children being confounded, not only with their variety; but, 
sometimes, contrariety thereof, rules being true in the one which 
were false in the other ; t( yea, which was the worst, a boy when 
removed to a new school, lost all he had learned before." It 
was in consequence of this, that Henry VIII. endeavoured to 
produce an uniformity of grammar throughout the kingdom, so 
that youths, though changing their masters, might still preserve 
their learning : for which purpose Lily's Grammar was ordered 
to be adopted. It was declared penal for schoolmasters publicly 
to teach any other ; and the king's printer was allowed a stipend 
of £4 per annum for printing it. 

But it appears that the order for enforcing its general use 
was not absolutely successful ; as there is an anecdote told of 
Buckeridge, Bishop of Rochester, who, examining a free-school in 
his diocese, and finding the scholars totally ignorant of Lily's 
rules, exclaimed, " What! are there puritans also in grammar?" 

Yet, though the study of classical languages was making 
great progress, the English language itself was not so much at- 
tended to ; for in the list of English school books, given by Dr. 
Drake, as likely to have formed the early studies of Shakespeare, 
we only find une published as early as 1537, the year of Lady 
Jane's birth, and called " Certein briefe rules of the Regiment 
or Construction of the Eight Partes of Speech in English and 
Latin." 

There was indeed some kind of grammatical institute then in 
use, called the Grammar of Henry VIII., which afterwards, in 



114 



LADY JANE GREY, 



even at Oxford, more than fifty years ; nay, it was still 
opposed by a set of students who called themselves 
Trojans, and represented it as a dangerous novelty. 

It must, however, be allowed that literature had 
been, even at this early date, patronized by some of the 
nobility, as appears from an anecdote related by Eras- 
mus, not many years before (1510), when, during his 
residence in England, he published a translation of the 
Hecuba of Euripides into Latin verse, to which having 
added some poems of his own composition, he dedi- 
cated the whole to Warham, then Archbishop of Can- 
terbury. 

Agreeably to etiquette, he waited on that prelate at 
Lambeth, whither he went accompanied by his friend 
Grocyn, of whom he had formerly said, in a letter to a 
friend, " In Grocyn I admire an universal compass of 

Elizabeth's time, was admitted into schools, to the exclusion of 
all others. 

There was another grammar printed in 1536, called the Rudi- 
menta Grammatica ; but that was more for Latin and English ; 
besides, it was written by Wolsey himself, expressly for the 
school which he founded at his native town of Ipswich. There 
was also a similar one by Dean Colet ; but that too was a sort 
of exclusive publication ; being only intended for his own school 
of St. Paul's. 

It is a curious fact, that there was not a dictionary of the 
English language during the life of Lady Jane ; there was one 
indeed " by Syr Thomas Elliot, declaring Latin into English," 
and it appears to have been held in some estimation : for a 
second edition of it was published in 1552, greatly improved 
and enriched by Thomas Cooper. 



AND HER TIMES. 115 

learning;" yet Grocyn, it appears, was not admitted 
with him into the presence of the archbishop, for he 
asked him, on their return, what present he had re- 
ceived ; Erasmus replied, laughing, " a very considera- 
ble sum; 1 ' but the prelate's character, perhaps, not 
standing very high for literary patronage, Grocyn 
considered him as in jest. Erasmus then mentioned 
the sum ; which drew from Grocyn the observation, 
that Warham was rich and generous enough to have 
made him a much handsomer present ; but he added, 
that he certainly suspected that Erasmus had only pre- 
sented him with a book already dedicated elsewhere. 
This nettled the Dutchman, who inquired, " how such 
a suspicion could enter his head?" " Because such 
hungry scholars as you," replied his friend, " who stroll 
about the world and dedicate books to noblemen, are 
apt to be guilty of such tricks !" 

Indeed Erasmus says, in a letter to Dean Colet, the 
founder of St. Paul's school, that there was no country 
which had furnished him with so many learned and 
generous benefactors as even the single city of London. 
It is also a curious fact, that Lady Jane's grand- 
father, Thomas, second Marquess of Dorset, actually 
bequeathed an annuity of £ 20 to his son's preceptor, 
though he judged i?10 each yearly, "toward theyr 
fyndynge," to three of his sons, to be quite sufficient 
until they should arrive at the age of fifteen ; to be 

i 2 



116 LADY J AWE GREY, 

increased indeed to £ 20, from that period, during the 
remainder of their minority. 

It was a happy thing for our heroine, that circum- 
stances had prepared for her a most able and worthy 
preceptor, in the person of John Aylmer. 

This eminent divine, afterwards Bishop of London, 
had for his patrons, first, Henry Marquess of Dorset, 
who sent him to school, maintained him at the uni- 
versity, and made him tutor to his children ; secondly, 
Francis, Earl of Huntingdon. His steadfastness to- 
wards the protestant religion may be drawn from an 
anecdote related by Thomas Becon, in a work called 
the Jewel of Joy : that author being an old friend and 
professor of the gospel, and fearing Henry VIII. re- 
solved for his safety to conceal himself in Leicestershire, 
where he was kindly received by Aylmer, to whom he 
gives the character, " that he was excellently well 
learned both in Latin and Greek ; that with him alone 
in that county he had lived familiarly; there being 
probably not one else that he dared to trust, lest he 
might be betrayed by them." Becon adds, that Aylmer 
was for some time the only preacher in Leicestershire ; 
where he so effectually fixed the protestant religion 
that neither force nor fraud could blot it out; the 
gospel being there retained without contention, which 
could be said then of but few other places. 

How much Lady Jane improved from Aylmer's in- 



AND HEll TIMES. 



117 



structions, may be judged from what Strype says, in 
his life of that pious and learned divine, affirming that 
as she was a lady of excellent parts, so by his in- 
struction she attained to a degree above her sex in the 
knowledge of Latin and Greek ; so that she read, and 
that with ease and delight, Plato and Demosthenes, 
and wrote excellently well : and that he also bred her 
up in piety as well as learning, being very devout to 
God, and a serious embracer of evangelical doctrine 
purged from the superstition of Rome. She also de- 
rived great advantages from the well known Roger 
Ascham, whose family seem to have resided in the 
vicinity of Bradgate. He was for some years preceptor 
to the Princess Elizabeth ; but, in Lady Jane's girlish 
days, he was employed at Bradgate in teaching the chil- 
dren to write, he being an exquisite penman himself; 
which may account for the beautiful hand written by her. 
Of Ascham, Dr. Johnson observes that his father 
was house-steward in the family of Scroop ; and in that 
age, when the different orders of men were at a greater 
distance from each other, and the manners of gentle- 
men were regularly formed by menial services in great 
houses, he lived with a very conspicuous reputation. 
We may observe, however, in regard to the manners 
of those times, that the sons of gentlemen were not 
engaged in the " menial 1 '' services of their lords, more, 
perhaps not so much, as the sons of gentlemen in the 
present day, when apprenticed to the mercantile, or 



118 LADY JANE GREY, 

any other genteel trade or profession : for the young 
gentlemen of the noble establishments retired with the 
nobles from their castles when they went to live " in 
secret," as it was called, and only served in domestic 
offices in conjunction with the younger sons of the 
lord; whilst, at the baronial castle, their attendance 
was more matter of state than of service, and so far on 
a par with service at the court itself. 

But the most remarkable fact stated by Johnson 
about Ascham, is now particularly deserving of notice ; 
for speaking of his study of Greek, he says, that 
Ascham thought a language might be most easily 
learnt by teaching it ; and when he had obtained some 
proficiency in Greek, read lectures, while he was yet a 
boy, to other boys, who were desirous of instruction. 

It is evident that whatever refinement of manners 
Lady Jane possessed must rather have been from the 
ancient classics than from the then modern poets. 
That Chaucer and Gower formed part of her library, 
cannot indeed well be doubted, considering the paucity 
of books at that period; Skelton, too, whose death 
was so near to her birth that he may be called her co- 
temporary, may also have been upon her table or shelf; 
particularly as he held the office of laureate at the court 
of Henry ; at least so Mr. Chalmers, in his biography of 
that poet, considers probable, from the titles of some of 
his productions. Yet his works were but little fitted, 
generally speaking, for a female eye : his principal 



AND HER TIMES 119 

object being to satirise the friars, Lily the grammarian, 
and Cardinal Wolsey. Chalmers observes that his 
style was rather coarse, perhaps illiberal ; but yet, as 
he attacked the Romish superstitions, his poems were 
likely to be popular in the reformed families. It may 
be added, that some of his worst writings were not 
published until after the death of Lady Jane. 

If indeed we were to judge of the manners of the 
court in that age by Skelton's poems, that court must 
have been a very unfit place for such a virtuous and 
youthful personage as Lady Jane, who, as we shall 
see, long resided at it ; but let us judge liberally with 
Mr. Chalmers, that if we knew more minutely of the 
manners of our country in those remote periods, it 
would probably be found that licentiousness had, upon 
the whole, been more discouraged than patronized by 
the public voice. It appears from Skel ton's poem, 
The Crowne of Lawrell, that the Greek and Latin 
poets were in some measure familiar in fashionable 
education. He speaks of Theocritus, Lucan, Plautus, 
&c. also of the Italian school of Boccacio, Dante, and 
Poggio, ranking them with Gower and Chaucer. 
But one short extract from that poem we shall in- 
sert; as it not only shows how fit many parts of 
his works were for female perusal, but also exhibits 
a correct picture of female manners at the period in 
question. 



120 LADY JANE GREY, 

Having encountered Occupation as personified in a 
poetic ramble, he thus proceeds : 

" Thus talking, we went forth, and at a postern gate, 
Turning on the right hand, by a winding stayre, 
She brought me to a goodly chambre of astate, 
Whar the noble Countess of Surrey in a chaire, 
Sate honorably, to whom dyd repayre 
Of ladyes a bevy, with all dewe reverence, 
Syt downe fayre ladyes, and do your diligence. 

Come forth gentilwoman, I pray you, she said, 
I have contry ved for you a goodly worke, 
And who can work best nowe shall be assayed. 

With that the tappettes and carpettes were layde, 

Wheron these ladyes softely myght rest, 

The sampler to sowe on, the laces to embroyde, 

To weave in the stole some were full prest, 

With slaies, with tavels, with hedelles wel drest, 

The frame was brought forth, with his weaning pin ; 

God give them good speed their work to begin. 

Some to embroider, put them in prease, 

Well gydyng their glotten to keep straight their silke ; 

Some pyrlyng of golde, their worke to encrese, 

With fingers small, and handes as white as mylke, 

With reche me that skayne of tewly sylke, 

And wynde me that botoume of such an he we, 

Grene, red, tawney, whyte, purple, and blewe. 

Of broken workes wroght many a goodly thing, 
In castyng, in turnyng, in florishing of flowres, 
With burres rowgh, and buttens surfFyllyng, 
In nedell worke, raysyng byrdes in bowres, 
With vertue enbased all tymes and howres." 



AND HER TIMES. 121 

Skelton then offers his complimentary praises to se- 
veral ladies, supposed to be of the party. In these he 
enumerates all the virtues, both personal and mental, 
which adorn our fair countrywomen at the present 
day ; to whom we recommend the perusal of the 
whole poem : merely making our extract from the ad- 
dress to Lady Myrriall Howarde. 

" Compare you, I may, to Cidippes the mayde, 
That of Acontius, when she found the byll 
In her bosome, lorde howe she was afrayde, 
The ruddy shamefastnesse in her vysage fyll, 
Which manor of abasshemente became her not yll, 
Ryght so, madame, the roses redde of hewe, 
With lillyes whyte your beautie doth renewe." 

In this review of the poetry of that day, we must 
not forget Howard, the gallant Earl of Surry, who 
perished on the block in 1546, and whose poems may 
probably have found their way into our heroine's 
library : especially when we recollect the great inti- 
macy that subsisted between the Norfolk and the Sey- 
mour families, notwithstanding the political jealousy 
between Howard and the Earl of Hertford, brother to 
Sir Thomas Seymour, husband of the Queen dowager, 
Katharine Parr, with whom Lady Jane was on terms 
of the greatest friendship almost from her infancy ; and 
that Surry was a friend to the reformation. We may 
add also that the fair Geraldine of Surry's devotion was 
daughter of the Lady Elizabeth Grey, daughter of 



122 LADY JANE GREY, 

Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset ; consequently she 
was cousin-german to Lady Jane. 

Upon the whole, Surry's poetry was more likely to 
catch a youthful female fancy than any of the other 
before mentioned poets, whether we consider it as 
amatory or religious; on both of which subjects it 
affords some fine specimens, deserving the perusal of 
our fair readers. Yet we must not neglect to mention 
Sir Thomas Wyat, the friend of Surry, and father of 
that Sir Thomas who afterwards raised an insurrec- 
tion in Kent in favour of Jane's claims, as generally 
supposed, though Wyat himself assigned other rea- 
sons. The elder Sir Thomas, indeed, was not on 
good terms with Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, Lady 
Jane's grandfather, whom he accused of having in- 
jured him in the king's favour. 

Nor was Lady Jane deficient of works written even 
by her own ancestors, or rather relatives; for An- 
thony Widville, Earl of Rivers, brother in law of 
Edward IV., was as much distinguished for his lite- 
rary talents as for his skill in politics and gallantry in 
war. He translated " The Dictes and Sayinges of the 
Philosophers,"" the " Moral Proverbs of Christian of 
Pyse," several other things printed by Caxton, and 
even composed a little elegy the night before his exe- 
cution, already mentioned. 

The books of Erasmus also, no doubt, formed part 
of her library, as they were in vogue amongst the pro- 



AND HER TIMES. 123 

tcstants, or reformists ; for which they were afterwards 
declared heretical by Mary. 

Music may yet be considered as in its infancy : me- 
lodies were very uncouth and unmeaning; and har- 
mony was more artificial than beautiful, with parts 
multiplied from six to six and thirty. Indeed it was 
then scarcely supposed that melody was fit for any 
thing but psalmody; and though the chants of the 
church were the foundation of all musical composition, 
yet the ear was taught to be satisfied, provided the 
general harmony was pleasing. 

Burney observes, that in the Virginal books of that 
period, we find no attempts at invention, in point of 
air or melody; and he elsewhere states, that Sir 
Thomas Wyat, cotemporary with Henry VIII., and 
father of that Sir Thomas, whose rebellion hastened 
the fate of our heroine, was the first who introduced 
Italian numbers into English versification. Yet Lady 
Jane is said to have been not only a fine singer, but 
also to have been an expert musician. 

In fact, it is positively stated, by cotemporary 
writers, that she not only played admirably on various 
musical instruments, but accompanied them with a 
voice exquisitely sweet in itself, and assisted by all the 
graces that art could then bestow. We have not been 
able, however, to ascertain the name of her musical 
instructor. 

It does not appear that painting or drawing made 



124 



LADY JANE GREY, 



any part of Lady Jane's studies, or of the ladies of 
her time ; yet the reign of Henry may be considered 
as the era of the establishment of the arts : and there 
are still extant several curious paintings of that period, 
when Holbein flourished; first induced too to visit 
England under the patronage of the Earl of Surry, 
besides being a favourite of the monarch. 

She had enough, however, of occupation and amuse- 
ment, in addition to her learned studies, in needle- 
work, in which her execution was exquisite ; in con- 
fectionary, then an important portion of ladylike 
household duty; in the acquirement of some know- 
ledge in physic and surgery; and perhaps in spin- 
ning, which certainly was then taught in the nun- 
neries. 

Some young ladies then also amused themselves 
with mewing sparrow hawks and merlins; but the 
great and important employment, at stated times, was 
in the charitable doles distributed by the Lady Boun- 
tiful of each parish or manor, the poors'* rates being 
then unknown. 

Lady Jane's principles in regard to the reformed 
religion are generally believed to have been acquired, 
in some degree, from Harding, her father's chaplain ; 
but we rather suppose that she was indebted for her 
pure faith to Aylmer. Indeed a short review of 
Harding's life will demonstrate that to him she could 
owe but little. Harding was educated at Winchester, 



AXD HER TIMES. 125 

and at New College, Oxford, of which he became a 
fellow ; and was afterwards appointed, by Henry VIII. 
Hebrew Professor of that university. His biographer 
says, that, as his religion probably kept pace with the 
king's, so being consequently half reformed at Henry's 
death, no sooner did Edward ascend the throne, than 
Harding became a very good protestant. It was after 
this that he became finally settled as chaplain at Brad- 
gate : but on the accession of Mary, he immediately 
saw his error, and became a confirmed papist. 

From her girlish days, Lady Jane was permitted, 
by her fond, yet oversevere parents, to mix with a few 
of the intimate friends of the family. Among these 
was the Dowager Lady Latymer, better known as 
Queen Katharine Parr. She was daughter of Sir 
Thomas Parr, of Kendal, who it appears left to her 
and her sister the sum of c£800 each for their fortunes: 
but if their brother were to die, so as to make them 
co-heiresses, then the o£1600 was to go to the Abbey 
of Clairvaux, to purchase copes and vestments. 

Katharine had a classical education, and was cele- 
brated for learning and good sense. After the death 
of her first husband, Lord Latymer, she appears to 
have been about the court ; where, or else in her inter- 
course with the Dorset and Dudley families, then very 
intimate, she saw and loved, as we shall in a future 
page have occasion to show, the Lord Seymour of 
Sudley, lord high admiral of England, and brother of 



126 LADY JANE GREY, 

the Duke of Somerset. This attachment, however, 
was set at nought, for Seymour was then married; 
and she shortly afterwards gained the heart of Henry 
VIII., being married to him about the 10th of July, 
1543, and two days afterwards proclaimed queen, at 
Hampton Court. 

Strype, in his memorials, relates a curious anecdote 
of this lady. He says that he met with a passage con- 
cerning her, in the margin of Bale's Centuries, in the 
possession of a friend, but written by an uncertain 
hand, which showed the greatness of her mind, and 
the quickness of her wit, whilst she was but a child. 
The anecdote relates that some person, professing to 
be skilled in astrology, cast her nativity, and told her 
that she was born to sit in the highest seat of imperial 
majesty, having all the stars and planets in her house; 
which she took such notice of, that when her mother 
used sometimes to call her to work, she would say, that 
her hands were ordained to touch crowns and sceptres, 
not needles and spindles. 

Let not our fair readers suppose they can find in 
this anecdote any support to the silly system of for- 
tune-telling, or nativity casting, practised by the 
roguish and the ignorant at the present day. Let 
them recollect how many hundreds, nay, perhaps 
thousands of females were born in England on the 
same day, and with the same astrological aspects of the 
stars; to every one of whom, of course, the same pre- 



AND HER TIMES. 



127 



diction might have been applied : yet to one only 
could it possibly prove true. 

Fuller, in his Church History, describes her as 
" one of great piety, beauty, and discretion. 1 '' He 
adds, that " next to the Bible, she studied the king's 
disposition, observing him to her utmost: and need 
she had of a nimble soul, to attend at all times on his 
humour, whose fury had now got the addition of fro- 
wardness thereunto. She was rather nurse than wife 
unto him, who was more decayed by sickness and in- 
temperance than old age."" 




128 LADY JANE GREY, 



SECTION III. 

Parliamentary Settlement of the Succession — War with France 
— Royal Campaign and Letters — Scottish Royal Family — 
Further Royal Letters — Court Society— Death of Brandon, 
Duke of Suffolk — Papal Intolerance — Dangers of Queen Ka- 
therine Parr — Demise of Henry VIII. — His Will — Succession 
to the Crown — Accession of Edward VI. and Letters from his 
Sisters — Lady Jane visits the Queen Dowager — Courtship 
and Marriage of the Lord High Admiral with the Queen— His 
political Intrigues and Maxims — Plan to marry Lady Jane 
to Edward — Undutiful Conduct of the Lady Mary — Political 
Advancement of the Marquess of Dorset — Interesting In- 
terview of Roger Ascham with the Lady Jane — Various 
Letters — Lady Jane's epistolary Correspondence with the Re- 
forming Divines — Dorset elevated to a Dukedom — Dudley 
also — Lady Jane at Court — Transactions there — Courtly 
Sketches — Political Disputes, and Fall of Somerset — Lady 
Jane's Visit to Lady Mary — Religious Disputes — Northum- 
berland's ambitious Views, &c. &c. 

In January this year (1544) the king met his parlia- 
ment, the very first act of which was concerning the 
succession ; beginning with a recital of a former one on 
the same subject, and now confirming it, and settling 
the crown upon Mary, in case of the death of Edward, 
and the king's demise during his journey to France, 
but with limitations similar to those which appear in 
his last will. 

That this was all agreeable to his own express wish 



AND HER TIMES. 1£9 

and desire, cannot be doubted ; indeed Lord Herbert 
of Cherbury, after speaking of the king's favours 
granted to Queen Katharine Parr and her relatives, 
adds, " All which yet seemed nothing to him unless he 
parted in good terms with his parliament : for he ac- 
counted it his most loyal spouse; and not without reason, 
since there was nothing I know desired by him, which 
they performed not." 

At this period Henry was at war with France ; and 
the siege of Boulogne, then an important post, was an 
object next to his heart. Sieges are carried on rather 
more briskly in modern days, even when kings are not 
present ; it may therefore be amusing if we insert a 
fragment of an original letter from Henry, during these 
operations, to his consort ; — 

" * And not lyke to be recouert by the Frensh 



or Spayne, as we trust not, with God's grace, but that 
the castell and towne shall sortly folow the same trade 
for as thys daye, whych is the xiij h daye of Septefrer, 
we begyne thre bateryse and haue iij mynyns goyng 
by syd won whych hath done hys execution in scalyng 
and tezyng off won of theyre grettest bulwarkes. No 
more to yow at thys tyme, swethart, both for lacke of 
tyme and grett occupation of bysynes, savyng we pray 
yow to gyff in our name our harte blessynge to all our 
chyldren, and recomendacyons to our cousin Margett" 
* Brit. Mus. Cotton. Coll. E. iv. 5$. 

K 



130 LADY JANE GREY, 

(Lady Margaret Douglas, daughter of the Queen 
Dowager of Scotland, by Archibald, Earl of Angus, 
her second husband) " and the rest of the ladyes and 
gentyllwomen, and to our counsell allso. Wrytten by 
the hand of yur lovynge howsband. 

" Henry Rex." 

This Lady Margaret was, however, the king's niece, 
and not his cousin as he familiarly calls her ; and re- 
specting her we may here observe that an important 
negotiation now took place, which in its probable con- 
sequences, had it fully succeeded, might have had con- 
siderable influence in regard to the subsequent claims 
set up by the friends of Lady Jane to the English 
succession, as it might have removed one antecedent 
rival out of the line of prior succession ; yet it must be 
acknowledged, that it would also have raised addi- 
tional obstacles from the probable preference to be 
given by Henry himself to the issue of his elder sister, 
before that of his younger, Mary, from whom Lady 
Jane derived her title or claim in blood. 

The political fact to which we allude was an " In- 
dentur of covenants*, 11 agreed upon between King 
Henry VIII. and Matthew, Earl of Lenox, by which 
not only were certain specified towns in Scotland to 
have been delivered into the king's hands, but lie was 
also to have got possession of the young Queen of 

* Brit. Mus. Ayscough's Cat. No. 41 19. 1. 



AND 1IEU TIMES. 131 

Scots, certainly the next in succession after his own 
issue, she being his own grand-niece, as daughter of 
James V., son of Henry's sister, Margaret, by James IV. 
of Scotland ; another stipulation of this agreement was 
in regard to an event which really did take place some 
time afterwards, the marriage of his niece Margaret 
Douglas (daughter of the Dowager Queen Margaret 
by Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, whom she 
married after the demise of her royal husband) to this 
Earl of Lenox. 

The Lady Margaret appears to have been a great fa- 
vourite with Henry, whose court, under the auspices of 
Queen Katharine Parr, was now becoming a more agree- 
able residence for ladies than it had been. Katharine 
was indeed a very amiable woman, and manifested both 
her good sense and good disposition in the attention 
which she bestowed upon her daughters-in-law, Mary 
and Elizabeth, and her son-in-law, Edward. In fact, 
it is evident, from various circumstances, that there 
was much family intercourse at court, where the Mar- 
quess and Marchioness of Dorset were frequent visitors, 
bringing with them from Bradgate their youthful 
and already accomplished daughter, Lady Jane, who, 
though only seven years of age, was frequently set up 
as a pattern for imitation, and for emulation, to the 
infant heir apparent. 

We have seen it stated, indeed, that they were 
educated together; but that was only true in regard 

k 2 



132 LADY JANE GREY, 

to those family visits, and not to the extent described 
by Rowe in his tragedy, where, speaking of Edward's 
subsequent death, we find the following passage : 

Nor. All desolate and drown'd in flowing tears, 
By Edward's bed the pious princess sits, 
And ev'ry sigh is wing'd with pray'rs so potent 
As strive with heav'n to save her dying lord. 

Duch. From the first early days of infant life 
A gentle band of friendship grew betwixt 'em, 
And, while our royal uncle Henry reign'd, 
As brother and as sister bred together, 
Beneath one common parent's care they lived. 

Mor. A wond'rous sympathy of soul conspired 
To form the sacred union. 

The Brandons, or Suffolk family also, of course, 
formed part of this family circle. The duke indeed 
seems to have now lived at court ; for in the Lansdown 
MSS. we find a letter written by him, and dated from 
the palace at Westminster, which was then, generally, 
the royal residence, and the scene of royal domesticity. 
In these social scenes the Princess Mary seldom mixed ; 
but the young Elizabeth was a favourite visitor, and 
her affection for her royal step-mother may be esti- 
mated by the following epistle : 

" Although your highnys letters be most joyfull to 
me in absens, yet consyderynge what paine hit ys to 
you to write, your grace beinge so greet with childe, 
and so sikely, your comendacyon was ynough in my 
lordes letter. I much re Joyce at your helthe with the 



AND HER TIMES. VB& 

we) likinge of the country, with my humbel thankes 
that your grace wisshed me with you til I ware wery 
of that countrye .... highnys were like to be com- 
bered if I shulde not depart tyl I were .... beinge 
with you, although hit were in the worst soile in the 
w . . . . your presence wolde make it pleasant. I can 
not reprove my .... not doinge your comendacyons 
in his letter for he did hit : a .... he had not, yet I 
will not cocaine on him for that he shulte .... giue 
me knolege frome time to time how his busy childe 
d .... I were at his birth no doubt I wolde se him 
beaten for the .... put you to Master Denny, and my 
lady with him .... prayeth most intirely for your 
grace prainge the Almyghty God to sen .... lucky 
deliverance. And my mystres wisseth no ... . most 
humbel thankes for her comendacyons .... 
leysor this last day of July*." 

The peculiar attention and duty shown by Elizabeth 
to the queen, her mother-in-law, may also be drawn 
from another epistle in Italian, written evidently from 
St. James's, on the same day and month, but not in 
the same year. 

" L'inimica fortuna invidiosa d"ogni bene, et vo- 
luitrice de cose humane privo per un anno intero della 
Ilti ma presentia vostra, et non es . . . . anchora contenta 
di questo, un altra volta me spoglio del mede .... bene : 

* Brit. Mus. Cotton. Otho. C. x. 231. 



134 LADY JANE GREY, 

la qual cosa a me saria intollerabile, s'io non pensassi be 
. . . . di goderla. Et in questo mio exilio certamente 
conosto la cler .... sua altezza hauer hauuto cura et 
sollicitudine della sanita mi ... . quanto fatto haurebbe 
la maiesta del Re. Per la qual cosa n . . . . sono tenuta 
de servirla ma etiando da figlial amore reuer .... inten- 
dendo vostra Ilt ma altezza non me hauer domentice .... 
Volta che alia maiesta del Re scritto : il che a me ape .... 
quella prieghare. Pero insino a qua non hebbi ardire 
d . . . per il che al presente nostra eccell raa altezza humil- 
rhete . . . . gando sempre sua dolce benedittione, simil- 
mete prieg . . . . il signore Iddio gli mandi successo bo- 
niss mo acquist .... oui inimici, accioche piu piesto possia 
uostra a . . . . ddio che conserui sua Illus ma altezza alia 
cui gr . . . . basciendo le mani m° offero et raccom . . . 
Jacoboalli31 di Julio*." 

* In the Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. 1419, is a MS. containing 
inventories of the royal wardrobes of this period ; in which are 
lists of the furniture and " stuff" supplied to the ladies Mary 
and Elizabeth ; affording a most curious view of the domestic 
management of those days. In the Lady Mary's list, are many 
articles of tapestry, accurately measured and as accurately de- 
scribed as to design and colours, with notices whether lined or 
not, and whether new or old. Many of these designs are of a 
strange nature; such as a king riding in a chariot in a blue 
gown with stars ; a woman in a cloud with the world in her 
hand; a woman hanging in a cloud in a yellow gown, be- 
tween a fire and a city; one riding upon a white horse hanging 
in a cloud of fire ; hawking and hunting, with naked boys at the 
corners; a woman in childbed, with some children and divers 
women in her chamber. Then come " Ilanginges of Ver- 
domes ;" one piece " with a hole in it ;" one cloth of estate of 
crimson cloth of gold ; another of rich cloth of gold tissue ; an 



AND HE It TIMES. 



135 



This family union was in some measure broken in 
upon by the death of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suf- 
folk, in 1545, which has been curiously remarked on 
by Lloyd in his State Worthies, who previously says 
of him, that having overcome a German braggodocio 
at a tilting match at Paris, in his youth, " the lords 
looked not on him with more envious than the ladies 
with gracious eyes ; who darted more glances in love 
than the others did spears in anger against him." In 
short, he described him as " the compleat courtier in 

old chair of iron, covered with crimson cloth of gold ; three 
cushions of cloth of gold ; Turkey carpets, some of them very 
small ; " six cubborde carpetts ;" " spar vers" of crimson da- 
mask, lined with buckram (these seem to be bed-furniture) ; 
three ' ' counterpoyntes" of crimson damask, fringed with white 
fustian; some checked ditto; some lined with canvas, and 
some quilted; eight pair of Holland sheets ; seven pillow beeres; 
two beds of down, with fustian ticks ; eight feather beds, with 
their bolsters of " old bryssell tykes ;" six pillows of down. All 
these are accurately numbered and measured, down to altar- 
froBts, cart canvas, cloth sacks, and box-lids, or cart covers, &c. 
It is curious to remark that the Lady Mary was only allowed 
one altar-front, embroidered with lilies and fringed with silk ; 
whilst to the Lady Elizabeth were granted six altar-fronts of cloth 
of gold, ornamented with raised crimson velvet, yellow satin, and 
with the Trinity embroidered upon one ; the salutation of the 
Virgin and two apostles upon another, garnished with pearls and 
lined with silk ; another with the passion of Christ upon the 
cross ; another with the assumption of our Lady, &c. ; together 
with sundry vestments of cloth of gold, evidently intended for 
chapel service. To Elizabeth also were allotted sundry pieces of 
tapestry of "verdomes," with carpets of frame- work, also Turkey 
carpets ; " sparvers" of cloth of gold and crimson velvet ; chairs 
of cloth of gold ; numerous cushions of the same materials, &c. 



136 LADY JANE GREY, 

whom beauty and valour, Mars and Venus, are joyned 
in one happy constitution, which awes and allures be- 
holders.'" 

Lloyd then describes him as being the " first that 
durst fasten the royal standard in the sides of Bulleign ; 
and the last that advanced the St. George in the mid- 
dle of it, both taking and governing it. The greatest 
thing that ever that age saw was, if we believe Sleidan, 
the delivery of the keys of Bulleign by a French go- 
vernor to the Duke of Suffolk's hand ; and the greatest 
thing King Henry VIII. saw, he saith, was the deli- 
very of those keys, by the duke, into his hand ; inso- 
much that despairing of greater, the one died that 
year, the other the next." 

Another circumstance, unfriendly to family tran- 
quillity, now took place, under the influence of popish 
intolerance, through which Queen Katharine herself, 
the friend of Jane, had very nearly been lost to her 
young protegee ; for a very short time previous to her 
royal husband's death, Bishop Gardener had got arti- 
cles drawn up against her, and actually signed by the 
king's own hand : nay, the orders were even prepared 
to send her to the Tower, where, as Fuller observes, 
" had she been sent, vestigia nulla rcstrorsum, without 
doubt she had followed the way of his former wives 
in that place." She escaped that danger, however, 
by an extraordinary circumstance ; for the chancellor, 
Wriothcsly, having got the paper, deposited it in his 



AXD HER TIMES. 



137 



bosom, from whence it fell, and was picked up by one 
of the queen's servants, who gave it to his mistress. 

Katharine being soon after dangerously ill, she 
made her submission to the king, and obtained his 
pardon; not, indeed, for any crimes she had been 
guilty of, but, as Fuller says, " she would sometimes 
presume to discourse with him about points of religion, 
defending the protestant tenets by scripture and reason : 
and sometimes would hold up the king very close hard 
at it. This displeased him, who loved looseness and 
liberty in his clothes, arguments, and actions; and 
was quickly observed by Gardiner and others, who 
were the queen's enemies ." 

The reformed religion met with a shock this year, 
1546, in the death of Luther ; but a more important 
event to England was the death of Henry, in 1547, 
and the succession of his infant son. To the politics 
of that day, the appointment of the Duke of Somerset 
to the protectorate, or regency, &c. ; we have no oc- 
casion to make further allusion than to record that 
the Marquess of Dorset and his family still attended 
as court visitors, the marquess himself being one of the 
court politicians, or partizans, of that period. Even 
then he was so much in favour, not only with the young 
monarch, but also with Somerset, the protector, that 
he was appointed to serve the office of lord high con- 
stable of England at the coronation ; an office which, 
however, he only held during the space of three days. 



138 LADY JANE GREY, 

Some notice of Henry's testamentary disposition of 
the crown becomes indeed matter of course, because 
on it much of the succeeding events must hinge ; we 
may observe, therefore, that the royal will was dated 
on the 30th of December, 1546 ; but it is said by 
Fuller to have been drawn up two years before 
that, before he went to Boulogne, and then only 
fairly written out, without any other alteration than 
the expunging of Gardener's name from the list of 
executors. 

By this will, the limitation of descent failing Ed- 
ward and his issue, or the king's own possible issue by 
Queen Katharine Parr, or by any other wife whom he 
might afterwards marry, was precisely appointed to 
fall on Mary, but upon the express condition that he 
should not marry " without the assent and consent of 
the privy counsellors, and others appointed by us to 
our deerest son Prince Edward aforesaid," &c. &c. 

Failing Mary and her issue, the limitation was to 
Elizabeth, under the same conditions in respect to 
marriage ; and failing her, and her issue, then to the 
Lady Frances, mother of Lady Jane ; and failing her 
and her issue, then to the Lady Eleanor, a younger 
sister of Lady Frances. 

In these limitations, the claim of Margaret, Queen 
Dowager of Scotland, and the eldest of Henry's sisters, 
was completely set aside; but in some measure ac- 
knowledged afterwards, when in default of these heirs 



AND HER TIMES. 139 

in remainder, and their issue, it was directed that 
u the said imperial crown, and other the premises, 
shall wholly remain, and come to the next rightfull 
heires :" a regulation which took place after the death 
of Elizabeth, to the exclusion of the Brandon branch, 
by the accession of James VI. of Scotland, and 1st of 
England, and great grandson of Margaret : in fact, the 
rightful heir in all respects of blood. 

As the non-fulfilment of the king's regulations, in 
regard to marriage, would have set Mary aside, the 
remainder, in that case, was to go to Elizabeth, as if 
Mary had been dead ; then Elizabeth failing in the 
conditions, the remainder was to the Lady Frances, 
as if Elizabeth were dead; with like remainder to 
u the next rightful heirs." 

That Margaret of Scotland and her issue should 
have thus been previously set aside in the succession, 
is attributed by Fuller, in his Church History, to its 
probable cause : for he says, " Great indeed (when 
this will was first made) was the antipathy, which for 
the present possessed him against the Scotch, with 
whom then he was in actual warre; though at other 
times, when in good humour, very courteous to his 
kindred of that extraction. For, most sure it is, that 
when Margaret Douglas, his sister's daughter, was 
married to Math., Earl of Lennox, he publickly pro- 
fessed, that in case his own issue failed, he should be 



140 LADY JANE GREY, 

right glad if some of her body should succeed to the 
crown, as it came to passe." 

During the minority of Edward, the Lady Mary 
interfered on several points of public business, to which 
the lords of the council strongly objected: but she wrote 
them back a remonstrance* in most spirited terms. 
Her manner of address to the young monarch was, 
however, of a more humble nature. 



Lady Mary to King Edward VI. f 

" My dewtye moste humbly remembred to your 
majesty e, it may plese the same to be advertized that 
I have ben often mynded to have wry ten to your 
hyghnes before this tyme; which to doe, my olde 
seased rewmatycke head wolde by no means suffer me, 
nor presentlie scarse wylle ; the wante of whiche helthe, 
as it hathe hithertoe made me not able to wryte unto 
your majestie, so the occasion of my sayde sycknes 
hathe and dothe, to my great gryef, cheflye stay me 
waightyng upon your hyghnes, as bothe dewtye and 
nature dothe constrayne and move me ; moste humblye 
besechynge your majesty e not onlye to pardone me 

* Brit. Mus. Lansd. Coll. No. 1236, 17, 28. 
f Brit. Mus. Ayscough's Coll. No. 4160. 



AND HER TIMES. 



141 



for that I do not wayte upon the same at this present 
accordynglye, but also to accepte thys myne unfayned 
excuse. For God, I take to recorde ther can be no 
greater comfort to mee in thys worlde then to see your 
majesty e, whiche I wyll not fayle to do, God willing, 
when I convenyentlye maye, accordynge to my bounden 
dewtye. 

" And sins I have also ben thus bolde to trouble 
your majesty e with theyse rude lettres, I wolde (the 
same beynge not offended) in most humbel wyse be- 
seche you to geve me leve to be a sewtor unto your 
hyghnes, for my poore serveunts, that it may stonde 
with your pleashure at this my moste humble sewte to 
graunt theym libertye to serve me as they have done. 
Whiche I humbly crave even for my verie neces- 
sytyes sake, feelyng suche wante of theyr service in 
the matter of my poore howse, that the same hithertoe 
clothe not a little troubel me. And althoughe I have 
not before thys tyme (accordynge to my bounden 
dewtye) wry ten unto your majesty e for the lybertye 
of my sayde servauntes, I shall moste humblye be- 
seche your hyghnes to impute the only cause and impe- 
dymente therof to be the wante and lacke of helthe. 
Your majestyes favour and goodnes shew'd to me in 
this my humble sewte shall not only muche quiet me, 
and discharge me of the care of howse matters, but 
also enforce me, as one moste bounden, to praye for 



142 LADY JANE GREY, 

the prosperous preservation of your moste royall estate 
long in virtue and honour to contynew. 

From my pore howse of Honesdown, 
iiii th of April! Your majesty es moste — 

To the kynges most excellent 
majesty e."" 

Let us compare this with an original address from 
the Princess Elizabeth, of the same date. 

Lady Elizabeth to King Edward VI. 

" Like as a shipman in stormy weather plukes 
down the sailes, carry inge for better winde ; so did I, 
most noble kinge, in my unfortunate chance a thurs- 
day, plucke downe the hie sailes of my joy and com- 
fort, and doe truste one daye, that as troblesome 
waves have repulsed me backwarde, so a gentil winde 
will bringe me forwarde to my haven. Two chiefe oc- 
casyons moved me muche, and grived me gretly : the 
one for that I douted your majesties helthe; the 
other, because for al my longe carringe, I wente with- 
out that I came for. Of the firste I am relcved in a 
parte, bothe that I understonde of your helthe, and 
also that yur majesties loginge is far from my lord 
marqueses chamber. Of my other grief I am not 



AND HER TIMES. 143 

cased; but the best is that whatsoever other folkes 
wyll suspect, I intende not to feare your graces good 
wy], wiche as I know that I never disarved to fainte, 
so I truste wyl styl stike by me. For if your graces 
advise, that I sholde retourne, (whos wyl is a comande- 
ment) had not bine, I wolde not have made the halfe 
of my waye the ende of my journey e. 

" And this, as one' desyrous to hire of your ma- 
jestyis helthe, thoghe unfortunate to se it, I shal 
praye God for ever to preserve you. 
" From Hatfielde this present Sunday, 

Your majestyes humble sister to 
commaundement, 

Elizabeth. 
" To the kinge's most excellent 
majesty e." 

In this letter there certainly is much of the formality 
of that day ; but that Elizabeth could write well and 
elegantly is proved by a well composed justification of 
her conduct, respecting certain opinions of the council, 
addressed to the protector ; and in which she alludes 
to the necessity of a proclamation to restrain evil re- 
ports of the king's sisters*. 

Though female society was in some measure broke 
up at court, except upon mere formal visits of cere- 
mony, yet Lady Jane, in these her earliest years, was 
* Lansdown MSS. 1236, 72. 



144 LADY JANE GREY, 

not debarred of fashionable intercourse, at times when 
she could be permitted to relax her studies at Brad- 
gate ; for we find her, even though so young, a visitor 
with the widowed queen, with whom she always was a 
favourite. In fact, these visits had most of the ad- 
vantages of a residence in a palace, since Queen Katha- 
rine, though now only queen dowager, seems to have 
held an establishment almost equal to a royal court, as 
far as respected her power and authority upon her 
own lands: which we have reason to believe w T ere 
similar to those in a grant made by King Henry 8, 
under the great seal, dated the 15th of July, an° 32, 
to Queen Katharine Howard, of diverse priviledges 
and immunities to be enjoyed by her within the hun- 
dreds and lands assigned for her jointure or dower. 
These powers and grants were very extensive — to have 
all goods and chattels forfeited — all fines and amercia- 
ments for escapes, &c. — return of all writs and exe- 
cutions thereof— no officer of the crown to enter her 
fee — to have fines for trespasses, service, concordance, 
&c. — year, day, and wast — all forfeitures for murders 
— power to levy without estreat from exchequer — to 
have warff and stray, deodands, &c. — to have view of 
frankpledge, and sheriffs' torn — to have fines certain, 
sheriffs' folke, &c. — no sheriff to meddle with sheriffs' 
torn, &c. or to enter to execute any thing — to be ex- 
empt from pourveyance — power to appoint a clerk of 
market — to have free warren, and none to hunt under 



AND HER TIMES. 145 

penalty of c£lO — power to appoint a justice in eyre — 
to have all writs without line — no steward, marshal, or 
coroner of the king's, to enter to exercise his office — 
all her possessions to be exempt from all admiralty 
jurisdiction — power to appoint coroners — power to ap- 
point admirals (that is, not sea admirals, but admirals 
of the coast, similar to the vice admiralty court in the 
Commons) — and finally to enjoy all liberties that any 
queen of England ever did use. 

Queen Katharine at this time resided partly at 
Chelsea, which was part of her jointure. She lived in 
the then modern Manor House, which had been built 
by her deceased lord and sovereign : it stood between 
Winchester House and that well known, but more 
modern place of entertainment, called Don Salteros ; 
and was pulled down many years ago, when Cheyne 
Walk was erected. 

At this period of Katharine's residence at Chelsea, 
she was upon terms of courtship with the Lord Thomas 
Seymour, Lord Sudley, lord high admiral of England, 
and brother of the Duke of Somerset ; during which 
she wrote him an amatory epistle, still extant, record- 
ing a private piece of history, that we recollect not to 
have seen elsewhere noticed — for Katharine actually 
was in love with Sudley during and before her mar- 
riage with the deceased monarch. 

In short, she states expressly that she loved him 
during her widowhood, if not during even her first 



146 LADY JANE GREY, 

marriage with the Lord Latimer: a circumstance, 
however, not to be positively, laid to her charge ; as, 
being bred up in the north, in rural seclusion from the 
court, she probably never saw Sudley until her mar- 
riage with Latimer opened the way to court. We 
shall also hope, virtuous and pious as she certainly was, 
that it was not even until the days of first widowhood 
that she had looked on Seymour with eyes of affection, 
though she must often have seen him whilst in the 
bonds of a first marriage. In the epistle she says: 

" My Lord, 

" I send you my moost humble and harty comend- 
ations, beying desyrous to knowe how ye haue done 
syns I saw you. I prey yow be not offended with me 
in that I send soner to yow then I sayd I wold. For 
my promys was but ones in a fourtened. Howbeyt 
the tyme ys well abrevyated by what means I know 
not, except the weakes be shorter at Chelsey than in 
other places. My lord, your brother, hathe dyfferred 
answer consernyng such requestes as I made to hym 
tyll his comyng hether, wyche, he saythe, schal be im- 
mediatly after the term. Thys ys not hys fvrst pro- 
mys I have receyved of hys comyng, and yet unper- 
fourmed. I thynke my ladye hathe tawght hym that 
lesson; for yt ys hyr coustome to promys many 
comynges to her frendcs, and to perfourme none. I 
trust in greatter matters sche ys more cyrcomspect 



WD 11I.U TIMES. 147 

And thus, my lord, I make my ende, byddynge you 
mooste hartely farewell, wyschyng you the good I 
wold myselfe. From Chelsey. 

" I wold not haue yow to thynke that thys myne 
onest good wyll towards yow to procede of any sodayne 
motyon or passyon. For as truly as God ys God my 
mynd was fully bent the other tyme I was at lybertye, 
to marye yew before any man I knewe. Howbeyt 
God withstode my wyll theryn moost vehemently for a 
tyme, and through hys grace and goodnes made that 
possible wyche semeth to me most impossible, that was 
made me to renownce utterly myne owne wyll, and to 
folow hys wyll most wyllyngly. Yt wer to long to 
wryte all the process of thys matter. Yf I lyve, I 
schal declare yt to yow myself. I can say nothyng 
but as my Lady of SufFolke sayeth, God ys a mar- 
velous man. 

" By her that ys yowrs to serve and obey, 
duryng her lvf, 
Kateryn the Quene. K.- P." 

Though Sudley courted and married Katharine, yet 
it has been said that his first thoughts were of a more 
ambitious kind than even an union with a royal dow- 
ager : and that the Princess Elizabeth, and a chance of 
a crown, were his most potent wishes. Elizabeth was, 
however, still too young for marriage ; and some have 
gone so far as to assert that the lord admiral married 

l 2 



148 LADY JANE GREY, 

the dowager, merely to assist him in his plans for se- 
curing a future union with that princess. 

In his courtship with Katharine he certainly expe- 
rienced no difficulties; yet he seems, perhaps before 
this explicit declaration on her part, to have made 
some solicitations for friendly assistance, to the Prin- 
cess Mary ; for, in the Burleigh papers, in the Lans- 
down collection, there is a letter from her to him, in 
which she declines interference respecting his suit to 
her mother in law. 

The policy of the lord admiral was perhaps much 
swayed by certain maxims, which (in No. 1523 of the 
Ayscough Coll. in the B. M.) are stated to have been 
the leading proverbs of the Seymours in the reign of 
Edward VI. These are as follow : 

" Affection shall leed me to court, but I'll take care 
y l interest keeps me there. 

" In the throng of courtiers, there are but three 
steps to raise a man to observation: 1. some peculiar 
sufficiency; 2. some particular exploit; 3. an espe- 
ciall freind. 

" Sufficiency and meritt are neglected thinges, when 
not befrended. 

" Princes are too reserved to be taken with y e very 
first appearances of worth, unlesse recommended by 
tried judgments : its fitt, as well as comon, y l y e have 
their counsellors for psons as well as thinges, 



AND II Kit TIMES. 149 

" The Earle of Surry and other nobility were im- 
prisoned for eating flesh in Lent. 

" A secreat and unobserved contempt of y e law, as 
a close undermining of authoritie, wch must be either 
its selfe in indulging nothing, or be nothing in allow- 
ing all. 

" Libertye knows no restrain te, no limitt, when 
winked at. 

•' In counsell is stabilitye: things will have their 
first or second agitation: if v ey be not tossed about 
upon the argument of counsell, y ey will be tossed upon 
the waves of fortune. 

" Aske an inferior man's advice in private, that he 
may be free ; and a superior's in public, that he may 
be respectfull. 

" Being y e protectour, he seldom discovered his 
own inclinations, least it byassed his counsell. 
" Braue men never dye. 

" Worth begetts in weake and base minds, envy ; 
in the magnanimous, emulation; in posterity, re- 
nowne. 

" A good name is y e embalming of y e vertuous to 
an eternity of love and gratitude among posterity. 1 " 

To these we may add some further maxims attri- 
buted to the Parrs. 

" If you doe y e comon sort of people nineteen cour- 



150 LADY JANE GREY, 

tcsys together, yet you may lose their loue, if you goe 
but over the style before them. 

" The comon rule of favourites is, to bring in all 
their relations about them, to adorne and supporte them : 
but a wall y 1 hath a firme bottom needes no buttresse; 
and y l weh wants it is often rather thrust down, than 
uphelde by it. 

" There is no such flatterer as a man's selfe ; and 
there is no suche remedy ag 1 flattery of a mans selfe, as 
the liberty of a freind : counsell is of two sorts ; y e one 
concerning mailers, y e other concerninge businesse. 

" A well managed boldnesse is the vertue of mo- 
narchical! courts; and a discreet submission, y l of a 
republican." 

After the nuptials, the new married couple left 
Chelsea to reside at Hanworth ; where our heroine 
soon after joined them. 

The visit of Lady Jane to the queen dowager was 
not likely to interfere much with her learned studies, 
as modern visits generally do ; for the queen was her- 
self fond of literature : in fact, a royal blue stocking ; 
for, as Walpole observes*, she was not only learned, 
but a patroness of learning, interceding for, and saving 
the university of Cambridge, when an act had passed 
to throw all colleges into the king's disposal. She was 
also an authoress, as Walpole records no less than six 
• Koyal Authors. 



AND HER TIMES. 151 

distinct treatises written by her, mostly prayers and 
meditations on religious subjects, besides several in- 
teresting epistolary specimens, which do her great cre- 
dit. One of those letters indeed seems not to speak 
very highly in favour of her judgment; for it contains 
a request to the Lady Mary, entreating her to permit 
the translation of Erasmus's Paraphrase on the New 
Testament, elsewhere noticed, to be published in that 
princess's name. 

It appears strange that Katharine would have been 
ignorant of that lady's dislike of every thing connected 
with the Reformation ; but perhaps she believed Mary 
to be sincere in the " submissions" which she had pre- 
viously made to the will and creed of her father in reli- 
gious affairs. Nay, she seems even to have gone a little 
further with Mary on this subject, previously ; having 
actually prevailed upon her to begin a translation of 
Erasmus's Paraphrase herself, at least upon the Gospel 
of St. John. But Strype says, that Mary being cast 
into sickness, partly by over-much study in this work, 
after she had made some progress therein, she left the 
doing of the rest to Dr. Mallet, her chaplain: on 
which Walpole observes, that she would not so easily 
have been cast into sickness, had she been employed 
on the legends of Saint Teresa, or Saint Katharine of 
Sienna. 

Hanworth, in Middlesex, where Lady Jane was now 
a visitor, was a small royal seat, which Henry VIII. 



152 LADY JAKE GEEY, 

took great delight in, and made the scene of his plea- 
sures ; and towards the end of his reign he settled it 
in dower upon Queen Katharine Parr : and the royal 
party was soon increased by the Princess Elizabeth, 
whose education was committed to her care. In this, 
however, she could have had very little comfort, for 
Seymour, as we have already observed, even before 
his marriage with the queen dowager, is said to have 
been anxious to marry Elizabeth : indeed, it was even 
said, that Katharine's death was hastened for the same 
purpose. 

Yet it is a very extraordinary thing, if we are to 
credit the evidence of Katharine Ashley and others, 
on the lord admiral's impeachment, that the queen 
was actually a principal party in the familiarities which 
he was accused of having taken with that princess. 
This woman asserted, that Seymour and the queen 
came into the princess's bedchamber, on two different 
mornings, " and then thei tytled my Lady Elizabeth 
in the bed" — " another tyme at Han worth, in the 
garden, he wrated with her, and cut her gown in an 
hundred pieces, beyng black cloth ; and when she 
came up, this examinate chid with her, and hir grace 
answered she could not do withall, for the queen held 
her while the lord admyrall cut it." In short, it seems 
to have been a vulgar game of romps in the garden ; 
for the princess was not then more than fourteen years 
of age. 



AND HEB TIMES. 153 

It is true, indeed, that Katharine was not happy 
with this her third husband, who often treated her 
a\ ith neglect, especially in regard to the celebration of 
the offices of religion ; respecting which she was very 
strict, having prayers every day, and sermons often in 
her mansion : at all of which Sudley rudely refused to 
attend. 

If her marriage was not happy, neither was it of 
long continuance; for she died early in September, 
1548, during which period Lady Jane, then in her 
eleventh year, was still a visitor. 

Young as Lady Jane was at this period, yet her 
hand was already sought after; in particular by the 
Lord Protector, the Duke of Somerset, for his son, 
Lord Hertford. This is evident from a declaration, 
still extant, of the Marquess of Northampton in which 
he expressly says, that the Lord Admiral told him in 
his own gallery, in London, that there would be much 
ado for my Lady Jane, the Lord Marquess of Dorset's 
daughter ; and that the Lord Protector and the Duchess 
of Somerset would do what they could to obtain her 
for young Hertford, who, as it will appear, afterwards 
married her younger sister. 

Sudley said, however, that they should not prevail 
therein ; for the marquess had given her up wholly to 
him upon certain covenants that were between them. 
Northampton then asked Sudley what he would do, 
if the protector were to induce the marquess to come 



154 LADY JANE GREY, 

into his own views ; when the Lord Admiral answered 
that he would never consent thereto. 

To enter at large into all the motives of Sudley upon 
this subject, and which eventually led him to assist in 
the downfall and execution of his own brother, the 
Lord Protector, would exceed both our plan and limits. 
It is sufficient to observe that Sudley wished to rise 
on his fall, as great jealousies and fears existed on both 
sides. Somerset wished to marry the young monarch 
to his own daughter ; and Sudley attempted to coun- 
teract this by a deep laid plan for uniting him with the 
Lady Jane, of whom he then publicly said, that young 
as she was, " she was as handsome a lady as any in 
England !" 

Whether the Lord Admiral might not have changed 
this project, or perhaps dropped it entirely on the 
death of the queen dowager, in the hope of then be- 
coming the husband of the young Elizabeth, does not 
exactly appear ; but it is evident that, at first, he gave 
up all thoughts of personal superintendence of her, 
meaning also to break up his own household, which was 
on a very extensive scale: for very soon after his 
widowhood he became once more an obsequious attend- 
ant at the court, and actually wrote to the Marquess 
of Dorset to receive his daughter back ; yet his mind 
seems spedily to have changed upon that point, and on 
the 17th of September, lie sent him the following 
epistle : — 



A XI) HER TIMES. 155 

" After my most hartye commend unto your good 
lordship, wherby my last lettres unto the same, wrytten 
in a tyme when partelye with the quene's highness 
deathe, I was so amased, that I had small regarde 
eyther to my self, or my doings; and partelye then 
thinking that my greete losse must presently haue con- 
stray ned me to haue broken upp and dissolved my 
hole house, I offred unto your lordeship to send my 
Lady Jane unto you, whensoever you wolde sende for 
her, as to him whome I thought wolde be most tendre 
on hir. Forasmuch as sithens being bothe better ad- 
vised of my self, and having more depelye disgested 
wherunto my power wolde extend; I fynde indede 
that with God's helpe, I shall right wel be liable to 
contynewe my house together, without dyminishing 
any greate parte thereof. And therrfore puttyng my 
hole affyance and trust in God, haue begonne of newe 
to establish my household, when shal remayne not 
oonelye the gentlewomen of the quene's highnes privey 
chamber, but allso the maids which wayted at larg, 
and other women being about her grace in her lief 
tyme, with a hundred and twenty gentlemen and yeo- 
men, contynuallye abeyding in house together ; savyng 
that now presentlye certaine of the mayds and gentle- 
men haue desyred to have license for a moneth, or such 
a thing, to see theyr freinds ; and then immedyately 
rcturne hither againe. And therfore doubtyng least 
your lordship Blight thynk any unkyndnes, that I sholde 



156 LADY JANE GKEY, 

by my said lettres take occasion to rydd me of your 
doughter so soone after the queried death ; for the prof 
both of my hartye affection towards youe, and good 
will towards her, I mynd now to keepe her, untill I 
next speak with your lordshipp ; whiche should haue bin 
within these thre or foure dayes, if it had not bin that 
I must repayr unto the corte, aswel to helpe certaine 
of the quene's poore servants, with soome of the things 
now fallen by hir death, as allso for my owne affayrs ; 
oneles I shal be advertysed from your lordship of your 
expresse mynd to the contrarye. My ladye, my 
mother, shall and wooll, I doubte not, be as deare 
unto hir, as thoughe she weare hir owne doughter ; and 
for my owne parte, I shall contynewe her haulf father 
and more ; and all that are in my house shal be as 
diligente about her, as your self would wyshe ac- 
cordynglye." 

To this pressing epistle, the marquess, two days 
afterwards, answered as follows, from his mansion in 
Leicestershire. 

" My moste hartie comendations unto yur good 
lordship not forgotten. When it hath plesed yow by 
your most gentle lettres, to offre me thabode of my 
doughter at your lordeshypes house, I do as wel ac- 
knoledge your most frendly affection towards me and 
hyr herin, as also rendre unto vow most deservid 



AND IIEU TIMES. 157 

thanks for the same. Nevertheless consideryng the 
state of my doughter and hyr tendre yeres, wherin she 
shal hardlie rule hyrsylfe as yet without a guide, lest 
she sholde, for laeke of a bridle tak to moche the heed, 
and conceave such opynyon of hyrsylfe, that all such 
good behauiour as she heretofore hath lerned, by 
the quene's and your most holsom instructions, shuld 
either altogether be quenched in hyr, or at the leste 
moche diminished, I shall, in most hartie wise require 
your lordeshippe, to commytt hyr to the governance 
of hyr mother, by whom for the feare and duetie she 
owithe hyr, she shall most easilye be rulid and framid 
towards vertue, which I wyshe aboue all thynges to be 
most plentifull in hyr ; and although your lordshypes 
good mynd, concernyng hyr honest and godlie educa- 
tion ys so greate, that myn can be no more ; yet waying 
that yow be destitute of suche one as shulde correcte 
hyr as a mystres, and monyshe hyr as a mother, I per- 
swade my sylfe that yow wyl think the eye and over- 
sight of my wyfe shalbe in thys respect most necessarie. 
My meaning herin ys not to withdrawe anie parte of 
my promise to yow for hyr bestowing; for I assure 
your lordeshyp, I intend, God wyllyng, to use your 
discrete advise and consente in that behalfe, and no 
lesse then myn own: onlye I seeke in thes hyr yono-e 
yeres, wherein she nowe standeth, either to make or 
marre (as the common saing ys), thadressing of hyr 
mynd to humilytye, sobrenes, and obedience. Wher~ 



158 LADY JANE GREY, 

fore lookyng upon that fatherlie affection which yow 
beare hyr, my truste ys that your lordeshyp waying 
the premises, wylle be content to charge hyr mother 
with hyr, whose wakyng eye in respecting hyr de- 
meenor, shalbe, I hope, no lesse than yow as a frend, 
and I as a father wuld wyshe. And thus wyshing 
your lordeshyp a perfight ryddaunce of all unquietness 
and griefe of mynd, I leave anie further to trouble your 
lordeshyp. From my house at Brodgate, the 19th of 
September, 

Your lordeshype's to the best of 
my power, 

Henry Dorsett. 
" To my verie good Lorde 
Admirall : give this." 

It is evident from the whole tenor of this epistle, 
that the marquess was anxious to get her back, but 
without offending the Lord Admiral; not only from 
general policy, but also from the close relationship by 
marriage — a degree of affinity that is shown by this 
correspondence to have been more strictly attended to 
in those days than at present. 

Henry VIII. was grand uncle to Lady Jane; of 
course, Queen Katharine Parr was her grand aunt 
by marriage. This accounts for Lady Jane having 
been entrusted to her care ; for she was the queen's 
visitor : yet it is curious to observe that the Lord Ad- 



AND HBB TIMES. 159 

miral, merely from having married her grand aunt by 
marriage, was actually considered by the Dorset family 
as her uncle (grand uncle rather, if at all), and that he 
was in that sense called " brother" by the marchioness ; 
although, by this species of matrimonial affinity, he 
was more properly lier uncle; being the husband of 
her aunt by marriage. 

That such, however, was the case is evident, from a 
letter of the marchioness, which accompanied that of 
her husband already inserted ; and to the following 
purport : 

" Although, good brother, I might be well encora- 
gid to ministre such counsaile unto you as I haue in 
store, for that yt heth plesed you, not onlye so to take 
in worthe that I wrytt in my Ladie of Suffblke's lettre, 
but also to require me to haue in rediness such good 
advyses, as I shall thinke conveynyent against our 
nexte metyng ; yet consyderynge howe unhable I am 
to doe that herto belongithe, I had rather leaue withe 
that praise I have gotten at your hand, then by sekyng 
more, to lose that I haue alredie wune. And wheras 
of a frindlye and brotherlie good wyll you wish to 
haue Jane my doughter continuyng still in your house, 
I giue yow most hertie thankes for your gentle offer, 
trustyng, nevertheles, that, for the good opinion you 
haue in your sister, you will be content to charge hir 
with hir, who promyseth you, not onlye to be rcdyc at 



160 LADY JANE GREY, 

all tymes to accompt for the orderyng of your deere 
neise, but also to use your counsaile and advise on the 
bestowing of hir, whensower it shal happen. Wherfor, 
my good brother, my request shalbe, that I may haue 
the oversight of hir with your good wyll, and therby I 
shal haue good occasion to thinke that you do trust me 
in such wise, as is convenient that a sister to be trusted 
of so loving a brother. And thus my most hertye 
comendations not omytted, I wyshe the nolle delyverans 
of your gryefe and contynuance of your lordshippes 
helthe. From Broadgate, 19 th of this September. 
Your lowyng sister and 
assured frende 

Fraxcys Dorsett. 
" To the right Honorable and 

my very goode Lorde, my 

Lord Admirall." 

In consequence of these representations, Lady Jane 
was permitted by the Lord Admiral to return to Lei- 
cestershire, under the care of Mr. Rowse, steward or 
comptroller of Sudley^s courtly household ; yet she was 
reluctantly parted with, and Mr. John Harrington, 
who also accompanied her, declared that the maids re- 
mained at Hanworth in expectation of her speedy re- 
turn. Indeed, soon after Lady Jane left Hanworth, 
Lord Sudley seems to have used the most strenuous 
measures to get her back again. In a paper written 



AND HER TIMKS. 



1G1 



by the Marquess of Dorset, apparently in vindication 
of himself after the trial of the Lord Admiral, he ex- 
presses his firm determination not to have let her return ; 
but Sudley himself went in person to Dorset-house, 
in GreyVplace, near the Temple, " and was so earnest 
with him in persuasion, that he colde not resist him. 
Emongs the which persuasions, one was, that he wold 
mary hir to the king's majestic" So earnest, indeed, 
was Sudley to attain this object, that he employed a Sir 
William Sherington to make interest with the mar- 
chioness to the same effect; in which he also suc- 
ceeded. 

It is evident that, in consequence of this, Lady Jane 
did return to Hanworth ; for the marquess states ex- 
pressly, that on her return there, "as it wer for an 
ernest peny of the favor that he wold shewe unto him," 
Sudley sent to him ,£500, as part of ,£2000 which he 
had promised to lend to the marquess, and for which 
he refused any bond, saying that Lady Jane should be 
the pledge ! 

In another communication of the Marquess of Dor- 
set, which appears to have been addressed to the Duke 
of Somerset, we find the first mention of any project, 
on his part, as to the intended marriage with the young 
Earl of Hertford ; a match too which must have been 
in serious contemplation before the fall of Sudley, not- 
withstanding his royal projects. It is — " Item, for the 
maryage of your graces sune to be had with my doghtcr 

M 



162 



LADY JANE GREY 



Jane, I thynk hy t not met to be wrytyn, but I shall at 
all tymes avouche my sayng ." 

This was certainly cautious on the part of Dorset ; 
perhaps, indeed, he was playing a double part, or at 
least endeavouring to steer a middle course in the tor- 
tuous politics of that day ; for it is evident, from his 
own letter, and that of his wife, that they were both 
under promise to Sudley to a certain extent ; probably 
both anxious to match their daughter with her royal 
second cousin. Indeed it was said that this match 
was thought a very possible event by many, and also 
greatly desired by those who wished the prosperity and 
establishment of the reformation, to which Lady Jane 
was known to be already extremely devoted ; not only 
from her course of education at home, but also the 
conversation of the queen dowager, and the lessons of 
Roger Ascham, then tutor to the Princess Elizabeth. 

But this union would have met with many political 
enemies about the court ; besides, a proposed marriage 
of the youthful monarch, in 1549, was likely to have 
raised another bar to the ambitious hopes of the friends 
of Lady Jane : for though on the 10th of January in 
that year, positive instructions were given to Lord 
Russel, the Lord Privy Seal, to Lord Pagett of Beau- 
desert, to Sir William Petre, Knt., Secretary of State, 
and Sir John Mason, Knt., to reject the offer made of 
the daughter of the King of France, yet the same com- 
missioners were instructed, whilst treating for and con- 



AND HER TIMES. 163 

eluding a peace, and contracting for the surrender of 
Boulogne, to make a demand to have the youthful 
Mary of Scotland delivered up to him for a wife. 

Even in the reign of Edward VI. negotiations were 
still going on to provide a husband for the Lady Mary ; 
on, apparently, a new arrangement with the emperor, 
in regard to the Prince of Portugal. This is manifest 
from instructions, yet extant*, to Sir William Pagett, 
then ambassador at Brussels. 

Perhaps, indeed, as Mary was still troublesome in 
her refusal to conform to the established religion, the 
young monarch may have been anxious to get her out 
of the kingdom. That he had many fruitless nego- 
tiations with her is evident. 

In Edward's own journal it is stated, that " the Lady 
Mary, after long communication was content to come to 
Lees 11 (in Essex), " to the Lord Chancellors, and then 
to Hunsdon ; but she utterly denied to come to the 
court, or Oking, at that time. 11 Fuller, in his Church 
History, accounts for this on the principle, that " she 
loved to deale with the king her brother eminus by 
letters, but in no wise cominus by discourse. Besides, 
she hated coming to the court, suspecting some harsh 
usage to her person, and jealous of being put into 
restraint. 11 

We have already alluded to the charges brought 
against the Lord Admiral, in regard to his " affecting 

* Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. 297, p. 63. 

m 2 



164 LADY JANE GREY, 

the kingdom," as it was quaintly called; and it is 
only further necessary here to state, that on the 14th 
of March, 1549, he was executed for high treason*; 
long previous to which Lady Jane had retired from 
Hanworth to her paternal mansion. Hanworth then 
changed its master, or reverted to the crown; and 
Chelsea Manor was granted to the Earl of Warwick, 
afterwards Duke of Northumberland, Lady Jane's 
future father-in-law. 

In the early part of 1550^ it appears that Mary, 
notwithstanding the solemnity of her former promises 
and submission to her father's will and opinions, had 

* In the Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. 249, there is an article 
called, <c The Sayings of Thomas, Lord Seymour, of Sudeley, 
in sundry his conferences and communications with me John 
Fowler (together with an account of the money which the said 
Lord Admirall sent in private, at different times to K. Edw. VI. 
and how he disposed of it)." Some of the entries in this MS. 
are curious. 

" Item, my lord admirall gaue me, a litle before he married 
the quene, a cap with agglette and a brouche." 

" Item, to his ma tie to give to John Cupples at sundre tymes 
when he tawght his grace to play on the vergynalls 1 li." 

" Item, to garrat of the gard for a booke wch he gaue to the 
kinge at St. James x li." 

" Item, to my lord privie seale's trompet at Hamp. Court, 
when his hygnes triomphed in the garden at iii sundry tymes 
xli." 

" Item, at Grenewiche to certeyn tumblers that played ; his 
grace lokynge out to them x li." 

" Item, to a trompet which somtyme was my Lord Bray's 
servaunt; for playinge on the Thames agaynst Grenewiche 

XX s." 



AND HER TIMEs. 



165 



been tampering with the emperor to procure his inter- 
ference on those points with the king her brother ; for 
the imperial ambassador, about this period, made a 
formal proposal to the youthful monarch to grant her 
a licence, or dispensation under the privy seal, " to 
continue in that fashion of worshipe which she now 
usithe*." This, however, was refused, and the am- 
bassador was requested by the privy council to advise 
her " for the future to hear mass only in her closet, 
and not to keepe, as it were, an open churche for all the 
servaunts and neighbours to resorte thither to masse, 
and so to offend openly God, and the king's lawes, in- 
curring therby great daunger, and inducing a maner of 
seism e in this cofnon wealth." 

The Marquess of Dorset being this year appointed 
Justice Itinerant of all the king's forests, he was less 
about the court, and his family more fixed at Bradgate, 
where, in the month of August, all the family and 
their friends were assembled ; and it was in that month 
that Roger Ascham, being about to set out for Germany 
attached to a diplomatic mission, went down to Lei- 
cestershire to see his friends and patrons, particularly 
the Lady Jane, to whom he states himself to have been 
exceedingly much beholden. 

On his arrival at Bradgate, he found that the Duke 
and Duchess of Suffolk, with all the ladies and gentle- 
men of the household, were hunting in the park ; but 
* Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. 523. 



166 LADY JANE GREY, 

understanding that his fair patroness was in her cham- 
ber, he requested admission, and there he found her 
reading the Phaedon of Plato in Greek, and with as 
much delight as some gentlemen of that day would 
have read a merry tale in Boccacio. Having paid his 
respects, and made every respectful inquiry, according 
to the custom of those times, he asked the youthful 
student why she would lose such pastime, as was then 
going on in the park ? She replied, with a smile, " I 
wisse all their sport in the park is but a shadow to that 
pleasure that I find in Plato. Alas ! good folk, they 
never felt what true pleasure means. 1 ' Ascham then 
asked, " And how came you, madam, to this deep 
knowledge of pleasure ? and what did chiefly allure 
you unto it, seeing not many women, but very few 
men, have attained thereunto ?" 

" I will tell you, 1 ' replied Lady Jane, " and tell 
you a troth, which, perchance, you will marvel at. 
One of the greatest benefits that ever God gave me is, 
that he sent me so sharp and severe parents, and so 
gentle a schoolmaster; for, when I am in presence 
either of father or mother, whether I speak, keep 
silence, sit, stand, or go, eat, drink, be merry, or sad, 
be sewing, playing, dancing, or doing any thing else, 
I must do it, as it were, in such weight, measure, and 
number, even so perfectly as God made the world : or 
else I am so sharply taunted, so cruelly threatened, 
yea, presently sometimes with pinches, nips, and bobs, 



AND HER TIMES. 167 

and other ways (which I will not name for the honour I 
bear them) so without measure disordered, that I think 
myself in hell till the time come that I must go to Mr. 
Elmer, who teacheth me so gently, so pleasantly, with 
such fair allurements to learning, that I think all the time 
nothing whiles I am with him : and when I am called 
from him, I fall on weeping ; because whatsoever I do 
else but learning, is full of great trouble, fear, and 
whole misliking unto me ; and thus my book hath been 
so much my pleasure, and bringeth daily to me more 
pleasure and more; that, in respect of it, all other 
pleasures, in very deed, be but trifles and troubles 
unto me. 11 

Ascham, describing this scene, adds, that he re- 
membered the conversation gladly, both because it was 
so worthy of memory, and because it was the last talk 
that ever he had with, and the last time that ever he 
saw, that noble and worthy lady. 

In such a school of parental severity, blessed with 
pious sentiments, and cheered by the promises of light 
and life in the Gospel, then newly re-opened to man- 
kind, as well as by the precepts of philosophy, Lady 
Jane could not fail to acquire both resignation and 
fortitude. It is curious, however, to observe, that 
although her parents treated her like a child, yet those 
learned and pious divines, Ascham, Bullinger, Stur- 
mius, and others, behaved towards her as towards a 
woman of good sense and consummate learning. 



168 LADY JANE GREY, 

An interesting proof of this appears in a letter 
written to her, in Latin, by Ascham, early in 1552, 
whilst on his diplomatic tour. 

" In this my long peregrination, most illustrious 
lady, I have travelled far; have visited the greatest 
cities ; and have made the most diligent observations 
in my power upon the manners of nations, their insti- 
tutions, laws, religion, and regulations; nevertheless, 
in such variety, there is nothing that has raised in me 
greater admiration than what I found in regard to 
yourself during the last summer, to see one so young 
and lovely, even in the absence of her learned pre- 
ceptor, in the noble hall of her family, at the very 
moment when all her friends and relatives were enjoy- 
ing hunting and field sports : — to find, I repeat, oh, 
all ye gods ! so divine a maid diligently perusing the 
divine Phaedon of Plato ; in this more happy, it may 
be believed, than in her noble and royal lineage. 

" Go on thus, oh best adorned virgin, to the honour 
of thy country, the delight of thy parents, thy own 
glory, the praise of thy preceptor, the comfort of thy 
relatives and acquaintances, and the admiration of 
all. Oh, happy Elmer ! to have such a scholar, and 
to be her preceptor. I congratulate both you who 
teach, and she who learns. 

" These are the words of John Sturmius to myself, 
as my reward for teaching the most illustrious Lady 

£ ■ 



AND HER TIMES. 1G9 

Elizabeth ; but to you two I can repeat them with 
even more truth ; to you two I concede this felicity, 
even though I should have to lament want of success, 
where I had expected to reap the sweetest fruits from 
my labour. 

" But let me restrain the sharpness of my grief, 
which prudence makes it necessary I should conceal 
even to myself. This much I may say, that I have 
no fault to find with the Lady Elizabeth, whom I 
have always found the best of ladies, nor indeed with 
the Lady Mary ; but if ever I shall have the happi- 
ness to meet my friend Elmer, then I shall repose in 
his bosom my sorrows abundantly. 

" Two things I repeat to thee, my good Elmer — 
for I know that thou wilt see this letter — that by 
your persuasion and entreaty the Lady Jane Grey, as 
early as she can conveniently, may write to me in 
Greek; which she has already promised to do. I 
have even written lately to John Sturmius, mentioning 
this promise. Pray let your letter and hers fly toge- 
ther to us. The distance is great; but John Hales 
will take care that it shall reach me. If she even were 
to write to Sturmius himself in Greek ; neither you 
nor she shall have cause to repent your labour. 

" The other request is, my good Elmer, that you 
would exert yourself so that we might conjointly pre- 
serve this mode of life amongst us. How freely, how 
sweetly, and philosophically then should we live ! 



170 LADY JANE GREY, 

Why should we, my good Elmer, less enjoy all these 
good things, which Cicero, at the conclusion of his 
third book, De Finibus, describes as the only rational 
mode of life ? Nothing in any tongue, nothing in any 
times, in human memory, either past or present, from 
which something may not be drawn to sweeten life ! 

" As to the news here, most illustrious lady, I know 
not what to write. That which is written of stupid 
things, must itself be stupid: and, as Cicero com- 
plained of his own times, there is little to amuse, or 
that can be embellished. Besides, at present, all places 
and persons are occupied with rumours of wars and 
commotions, which, for the most part, are either mere 
fabrications, or founded upon no authority ; so that 
any thing respecting continental politics would neither 
be interesting nor useful to you. 

" The general Council of Trent is to sit on the first 
of May : Cardinal Pole, it is asserted, is to be the 
president. Besides there are the tumults this year 
in Africa ; their preparations for a war against the 
Turks : and then the great expectations of the march 
of the emperor into Hungary, of which, though no 
soldier, I shall, God willing, be a companion. Why 
need I write to you of the siege of Magdeburg, and 
how the Duke of Mecklenburgh has been taken ; or 
of that commotion which so universally, at this mo- 
ment, afflicts the miserable Saxony ? To write of all 
these things, I have neither leisure, nor would it be 



AND HER TIMES. 171 

safe : but on my return, which I hope is not far di- 
stant, it shall be my great happiness to relate all these 
things to you in person. 

" Thy kindness to me, oh most noble Jane Grey, 
was always most grateful to me when present with 
you ; but it is ten times more so during this long ab- 
sence. To your noble parents, I wish length of hap- 
piness ; to you, a daily victory in letters and in virtue ; 
to thy sister Katharine, that she may resemble thee ; 
and to Elmer, I wish every good that he may wish to 
Ascham. 

" Further, dearest lady, if I were not afraid to 
load thee with the weight of my light salutations, I 
would ask thee, in my name, to salute Elizabeth 
Astley, who, as well as her brother John, I believe to 
be of my best friends ; and whom I believe to be like 
that brother in all integrity and sweetness of manners. 
Salute, I pray thee, my cousin Mary Laten ; and my 
wife Alice, of whom I think oftener than I can now 
express. Salute also that worthy young man Garret, 
and John Haddon. 

" Farewell, most noble lady in Christ. 

" Augusta?, R. A. 

18th January, 1551." 

Thus courted by the reformed teachers, it is not 
unlikely that they considered her as a future sup- 
porter of the true interests of Christianity, in the clia- 



172 LADY JANE GREY, 

racter of Queen of England, by marriage with the 
young monarch. That such an idea had gone abroad, 
cannot be doubted ; nor was it an improbable specu- 
lation, when we reflect on the similarity of their ages 
and dispositions, and their near relationship. The 
politics of the court did not, it is true, turn upon this 
point, but upon a matrimonial union of England and 
Scotland. 

It must be observed here, that the demand which 
Edward had made to have the youthful Scottish 
Mary delivered up to him for a wife had not yet been 
successful ; but on the 20th of May, 1551, negotia- 
tions to that effect were renewed ; not, however, it ap- 
pears, with any great hope of success : for the Marquess 
of Northampton, the Bishop of Ely, and the other 
commissioners sent for that purpose to Paris, had di- 
rections that, provided the French king would not de- 
liver up his daughter in law, the young queen and dau- 
phiness, then they should at once conclude a marriage 
with Elizabeth, the French princess. 

Though travelling was neither very much in fa- 
shion, nor very convenient in England, yet Lady Jane 
appears to have enjoyed some of its advantages in a 
frequent change of residence ; in particular, though 
we cannot trace for what purpose, her family seems 
to have been living at Cambridge for some time during 
this year. The fact is stated in a letter from Ascham 
to Mr. Edward Raven; but at what season of the 



AND HER TIMES. 173 

year it took place is uncertain. We can only per- 
ceive that in June she was resident at Bradgate; 
from whence is dated an epistle written to Bullinger at 
Zurich, by Johannes ab Ulmeis*. 

In the same month she also wrote her first epistle in 
Latin to Henry Bullinger, one of the most eminent 
of the reformed divines ; in which she mentions her 
having begun the study of the Hebrew language. 
This epistle manifests the utmost elegance of expres- 
sion, and of turn of sentiment, astonishing, indeed, in 
so young a person : her two succeeding epistles to the 
same divine being also composed in a pure and un- 
affected style, informing him that she was pursuing 
her Hebraic studies in the manner which he had 
pointed out to her. She addresses him as if he were 
her preceptor, with wonderful respect and submission, 
in a fine strain of modesty, and displaying a very sin- 
gular zeal for the true religion. 

Though Bullinger had never been in England, yet 
he was evidently well known to her family; for we 
find it stated in his biography by Simlerus, that in 
the early part of Henry's reign, in fact the year im- 
mediately after Lady Jane's birth, that amiable and 
learned divine, at his residence at Zurich, had shown 
great hospitality to many English nobles, clergy, and 
gentry, who had been forced to leave their native 
country for conscience sake ; amongst whom, in parti- 
* Epistolse ab Eccl. Helvet. Reformatoribus, p. 291. 



174 LADY JANE GREY, 

cular, was John Hopper, afterwards Bishop of Glou- 
cester, and finally a martyr in Mary's reign, who fled 
to Switzerland, accompanied by his wife ; a species of 
travelling baggage which the English clergy had then 
just began to provide themselves with. 

These reformed fugitives there consulted Bullinger 
about the principal doctrines of Christianity, and the 
proper rites and ceremonies for a Christian church. 
They likewise urged him to write to Henry VIII. when 
that monarch first threw off the papal authority; on 
which occasion he addressed to the royal reformer his 
two well known books on protestantism. Bullinger 
also, in 1550, dedicated two decades of sermons to 
Edward VI. and wrote many letters to the principal 
nobility on religious subjects : so that Lady Jane, and 
the reformers in general, considered him as a main 
support and assistance to the good cause. 

In all these affairs the Marquess of Dorset was an 
active coadjutor ; but he was also obliged to mix in 
the politics of the time, especially in the affairs of 
Scotland, being appointed about this time warden of 
the northern marches : in which, however, he was 
soon after superseded by Dudley, Earl of Warwick ; 
an event which does not appear to have produced any 
coolness between these two courtiers, as they were 
both soon afterwards elevated to dukedoms : Warwick 
gaining the title of Northumberland, and Dorset that 
of Suffolk, which was now extinct in the male line of 



AND HER TIMES. 175 

the Brandon family, by the deaths of Henry and 
Charles Brandon, Dukes of Suffolk, in June and July, 
the title being thus revived, as it were, in their sister 
Lady Frances, wife of Dorset, and mother of Lady 
Jane. 

It was on the 11th of October, 1551, that this rise 
in the peerage took place, the young monarch then 
residing at Hampton Court; from whence, early in 
November, he removed to Westminster. 

Lady Jane had now, for some time, been resident 
in the metropolis, or in attendance at the court, at 
Greenwich, and made her first appearance in public 
on occasion of a visit from Mary of Lorraine, queen 
dowager of Scotland. Her majesty had recently ar- 
rived at Portsmouth from France, on her way to her 
daughter's dominions, the unhappy Mary, and wrote 
to the king for licence to pass through England ; on 
which she received an invitation to the metropolis, that 
was instantly accepted. 

Conducted by a deputation from the court, and at- 
tended with all royal honours, the Scottish queen ar- 
rived at Hampton Court, where she made some stay ; 
and on the 2d of November she proceeded by water 
for London, landing at Paul's Wharf, whence she rode 
on horseback in great state, accompanied by many of 
the English nobility of both sexes, besides her own 
Scottish train, to the palace of the Bishop of London ; 
by whom not only was she entertained with all hos- 



176 LADY JANE GREY, 

pitality, but receiving also from the city of London, by 
the hands of the chamberlain, a large supply of all 
kinds of food, stated by Stowe, in his annals, to have 
been " beefes, muttons, veales, swans, and other kind 
of poultry meates, with bread, fuell, wine, beere, 
waxe," &c. 

The further proceedings, as detailed by Stowe, and 
in which Lady Jane bore a part, will serve to illustrate 
the courtly manners of the day. 

The first interview of the Scottish dowager with the 
youthful monarch was at Westminster, on the 4th of 
November ; on which occasion she rode to Whitehall 
in her chariot, accompanied by Lady Margaret Dou- 
glass, cousin to the king, and Countess of Lennox, the 
Duchess of Richmond, the Duchess of Suffolk, mo- 
ther of Lady Jane, who attended in her train, the 
Duchess of Northumberland, with many other ladies 
of the first rank, both in England and Scotland, form- 
ing a procession of great length and splendour. 

On her arrival at Whitehall, a guard of honour 
was drawn up on each side of the court ; and she was 
received within the court gate by the Dukes of Suffolk 
and Northumberland, and the Marquess of Winches- 
ter, lord treasurer, who led her to the upper end of the 
hall, where stood the king, before whom the Earl of 
Warwick held the sword of state. 

The dowager instantly knelt down; but Edward 
raised and kissed her : then leading her by the hand, 



AND HEB TIMES. 177 

lie introduced her to her own chamber of presence, 
and next to another chamber of presence, called the 
queen's, where he kissed all the Scottish ladies, and soon 
after retired, until dinner-time, when " she dined on 
the queene's side with the king, the king's service and 
hers comming both together, the king's on the right 
hand, the queene's on the left hand, shee sitting by 
the king, apart by his cloth of estate." 

None of the court dined with the royal pah' ; but 
Lady Jane retired with her mother and all the other 
ladies of both kingdoms, to the queen's great chamber, 
where a sumptuous entertainment was provided for 
them. 

This august solemnity must have taken place at a 
very early hour ; for after dinner the king showed to 
his royal guest his galleries, gardens, &c. and yet it 
was only four o'clock when he handed her into the 
hall, where he again kissed her ; and she returned to 
her apartments at the bishop's palace. 

Further public honours were conferred upon her 
two days afterwards, in which Lady Jane participated, 
when she set off for Scotland, riding from St. Paul's 
through Cheapside, &c. towards Bishopsgate, accom- 
panied by a long train of nobility, who had assembled 
for the purpose of escorting her as far as Shoreditch 
church. The Duchess of Suffolk, as a near relation 
of royalty, added much splendour to the pageant ; but 
the principal part of the show was made by the Duke 



178 LADY JANE GREY, 

of Northumberland, who had a train of one hundred 
horsemen drawn up in Cheapside, of whom forty were 
gentlemen clad in black velvet, guarded with white, 
with velvet hats, and white feathers, and chains of 
gold about their necks. Next to these stood one hun- 
dred and twenty of the suite of the Earl of Pembroke, 
on horseback, with black javelins, hats, and feathers. 
To these were added one hundred of the lord trea- 
surer's gentlemen and yeomen. Besides which there 
were three ranks of horsemen, forming a cortege, 
from the cross in Cheapside to the end of Birchin 
Lane. The whole of this procession accompanied the 
queen to Shoreditch church, when they took leave, 
and returned to their respective mansions ; the dow- 
ager pursuing her route, preceded by harbingers, and 
provided with all accommodation at the royal charges. 
But the attendance of Lady Jane in the metropolis, 
together with her family, must have been rather from 
their connexion with the court, than from her father's 
duties as a peer of parliament, or in compliance with 
fashion ; for it seems that the temptations to the no- 
bility and gentry at this period to make a long sojourn 
in the metropolis could not have been very great. In 
fact, in the year 1551, it was entered in the youthful 
monarch's own hand- writing*, amongst " ceirtein 
pointes of waighty matters to be immediately con- 
cluded on by my counsell, 18 Januarie, lSSlV that 
* Brit. Mus. Cottonian, V r csp. F. xiii. 171. 



AND II Kit TIMES. 179 

there was necessity for " taking some order to the 
Londoners, that they that come to our parliement may 
not be holly discouragid, empovrished, or weried w l 
their attendaunce, wch order can not be well taken (as 
me thinketh) w t out punishing th 1 offendours." 

The court attendants, however, must have been less 
annoyed than the parliament by the existing metro- 
politan incivility, the royal residence, being then so 
seldom in town, if at all ; for the Tower was only 
now considered as a royal residence, according to 
court etiquette, for a few days after the monarch's 
accession ; whilst St. James's, then recently made a 
royal residence, was not in London, but in Westmin- 
ster, a city which may then be said to have been out 
of the metropolis. Indeed, we may suppose that the 
court itself would have been treated with but little 
more ceremony than the parliament, as it was not then 
fenced in with such august distinctions from common 
life as at present. 

Henry VIII. was merely called " highness," and 
those who spoke to, or of him, only used the term 
" grace. 1 ' Even to Edward VI. the term " serene" 
was applied, as appears from a highly complimental 
letter, addressed to him in Latin*, by Henry Grey, 
then Duke of Suffolk, and father to Lady Jane. It 
is true, that in this epistle we find the word " ma- 
jestas" several times applied; but it begins with " rex 
* Brit. Mus. Cottonian, Vesp. F. xiii. 174. 

N 2 



180 LADY JANE (;KEY, 

benignissime ;" whilst the term " celsitudo," or high- 
ness, is frequently introduced. It may also be re- 
marked, that " grace" was not confined to royalty, as 
there is now a letter in the British Museum, from 
Thomas, Marquess of Dorset, Lady Jane's grand- 
father, to Cardinal Wolsey, beginning, " Please it, 
your grace," and indorsed, " To my Lord Legate's 
good grace." 

There could not, indeed, then have been any thing 
very tempting in a court residence, except to the am- 
bitious ; for Aubrey declares, that even until the reign 
of James I. the court was ill-mannered, and the 
courtiers unpolished ; nay, that even then, the queen 
herself could scarcely escape insult in passing the king's 
apartment. 

Comfort or convenience of all kinds were as little at- 
tended to as decency and decorum ; for at Henry the 
Eighth's royal table, the " kinge's boarde" was literally 
a board laid on tressels, with wooden forms set round. 
Yet at the royal dinners great formality was observed 
as to places ; though politeness had not hitherto pro- 
ceeded so far as to place husbands below their wives, 
unless " if they bee of the bloode rialle, the kinge may 
comaunde them as yt plessithe hym." 

At dinner also, no person was allowed to stand on 
the " kyngge's carpette," which was not very large ; 
the other part of the floor being strewed with rushes. 
Whilst the duty of the pages was to dean windows, to 



AM) II EK TIMES. 181 

light fires, and to see the walls swept before hangings 
were put up. 

As for the elegance of the repast, much cannot be 
said ; for the cook's wages for dressing it, each day, as 
appears from a MS. in the Lansdown collection, was 
only two shillings and four-pence; a sum not very 
munificent, even allowing for the deterioration of 
money since that period. 

In the evenings at court, the king then living, as it 
were, in public, it was the custom to serve him with 
spice and wine; spice plates being also brought for 
the king's relations ; after which the cellarer attended 
with the pots with wine. Then, after many peremo- 
nies, the company were to retire ; " and after voides 
done, the kinge to goe on to his with draught, and all 
other estatys to goe unto y r own chambers, or wher y* 
plessithe them.' 1 

Supper was always over at eight o'clock ; " and an 
esquire of the body to be redie in the kinge's chamber 
to receive, and to make for all night the kinge's cup- 
boorde. That done, the esquire and gentleman huissicr 
to beare yt to the king's privy chamber, or wherever 
else yt may be comaunded." 

Of the delicacy of nocturnal repose and retirement, 
an idea may be drawn from the observation of a writer 
of that day, who speaks of it as a kind of wonder — 
" Also and the kyngc and the qucne lie togedere, I 
sawe never no person lie in the same chambrc, savynge 



182 LADY .7 AXE GREY, 

in Kynge Henry dais, the Lord Say w th his chamber- 
lyne ; but he was removid in a schort sessone of hys 
logginge. Nowe of y e chambre I have some sessones 
sene that at the dore w t out the kynge's side there have 
layne squyers for the body; and in lykewise at the 
dore, by the quene's side, gentlewomen." 

The moral honesty of some about the court may be 
estimated by an order of Henry VIII. — 

" Item*, the king's pleasur and street commaunde- 
ment is, that the gentlemen huishiers making lodging 
from tyme to tyme within the king's courte, shall see 
and note substantially, what leckes, keyes, and other 
such implementes, as before mentioned, thei do finde 
in the chambers where thei make lodginge, giving 
charge unto such persons^ as thei do put and lodge in 
the same, that every parcell therof be saufely left in 
the chamber and redeliverid with the key of the 
chamber, to the keepir of the house, or other per- 
son deputed to receive the same at their departing, 
without embestlyng, purloyning, or carying away any 
part therof upon payne of imprisonement, and makjng 
restitucion to the partie, or double the valew of the 
thing so embeyselyd or purloyned." 

If this paints their morals, let the following, from 
the same source, delineate their economy : 
* Ant. Rep. ii. L87. 



AM) II Ell TIMES. 183 

" Item, the gentleman huishier ought to forbidde, 

that no maner man do set any dishe upon the king's 
bed, for feare of hurting the king's riche counterpoyntes 
that lye therupon. And that the said huishier take 
good heede, that no man wipe, or rubbe their handes 
upon none arras of the king's, wherby thei may be 
hurted, in the chamber wher the king is specially, and 
in all other ^" 

It is true, that with much of this ceremony and in- 
decorum Lady Jane did not mix; for the Suffolk 
family now lived, when attending on the court, at their 
own mansion in Suffolk-place, only going to court oc- 
casionally ; and it was from this place that the family 
proceeded when, on New Year's-day, 1552, the Duchess 
of Suffolk presented to King Edward in a purse of silver 
and gold, knit, £4:0 in half-sovereigns, (left with the 
king's majesty), and received in return three gilt bowls 
with covers. 

It was about this time that Lady Jane wrote her 
second letter to Bullinger, who was then much be- 
friended both by the Suffolk and Northumberland fami- 
lies ; between whom a personal intimacy seems now to 
have existed. These friendly attentions to that worthy 
reformer were not confined to pecuniary favours, but 
extended to the exercise of influence at home for his 
friends, as appears from a letter in the Lansdown 
MSS., from Johannes ab Ulmcis to the Duke of 



184 LADY JANE GKEY, 

Northumberland, to obtain from his grace a scholar- 
ship in King's College for a friend of Bullinger's. 

Whilst speaking of this German correspondence, we 
may notice also a curious letter of this date, in the 
same collection, from Roger Ascham, at Spires, where 
he was with the king's ambassadors, addressed to Mr. 
Secretary Cecill, inquiring whether he might sometimes 
talk with the Pope's Nuncio's men, without injuring 
the cause of reformation by gossiping with the ser- 
vants of the " Lady in scarlet ! " 

Of the patriotic justice and regard for the constitu- 
tion, which now filled the breast of the youthful mon- 
arch, a very correct idea may be drawn from a paper 
in his own hand- writing, headed, " Ceirtein pointes of 
waighty matters to be immediatly concluded on by my 
counsell. 18 Janueiri ? 1551*," now m tne British Mu- 
seum, in which is the following entry, " The matter for 
the Duke of Somerset and his confederates to be con- 
sidered as aparteineth to our surety and quietness of 
our realme, that by there punishement (and execution 
according to the lawes) example may be shewed to 
others." In this memorandum, in the original, the 
words between brackets are an interlineation, evidently 
written with a different pen, and marking after-thought 
and consideration-)-. 

* Brit. Mus. Cotton. Coll. Vesp. F. xiii. 171. 
t The state of justice at this period in England may be drawn 
from a very curious " Kalendar or note of all the prisoneres 



AND ITER TIMK.S. 185 

In fact, it is extraordinary to observe with what 
steadiness this royal youth pursued his course through 
all the intricacies of court politics, intrigue, and the 
prevalence of every bad passion. Somerset was his 
own uncle ; yet such was his submission to law and 
justice, or at least, to what appeared to him to be such, 
that he suffered him to fall under the axe of the exe- 
cutioner — a shorter way of getting rid of an obnoxious 
political rival, by dividing his head from his body, 
than the modern method of merely dividing against 
him ! A minister may survive a minority, and more 
firmly re-establish himself; but, according to the old 
method, a monarch must have restored a discarded 

names that be remayninge within the Towere at this presente, 
being the 11 th daye of februaire, an R. Edw. VI. sexto." 

From this it appears that the Duke of .Norfolk had been con- 
fined ten years ; Edward Courtenay had been there twelve years ; 
several clergymen had been there during some years. 

Two persons, Denys Fludde and John Davy, are stated to 
have been ft attainted for felonie, and had a bill signed for their 
p~don, and steyde by the Lord Ryche, then Lorde Chanceler." 

" Rycharde Tracy e, who hathe bene there ix monethes and 
more, for wrytynge a letter to Mr. Kelwaye." 

" William Phyllips, John Sawyer, who hathe bene xii 
monethes and more, for suspicion of castinge of letters." 

" Robert Allen, who hathe bene there xii monethes and more, 
for matters of astronomie, and suspicion of calculation." 

" Christopher Dunne, for suspicion of imbecillynge of certeyn 
iewells and money of the Duches of Somersette." 

" Myles Moore for writinge of a supplication to the kinges 
hyghnes." 



186 



LADY JANE GREY, 



favourite to life, before he could restore him to his 
councils ! 

Whether the modern mode is not an improvement, 
in spite of the clamour against bribery and corruption, 
and rotten boroughs, and back-stairs influence, we 
leave it to our readers to judge. 

But to return to Edward, it seems as if his principal 
political difficulties arose from his own family ; for a 
very short time before this, he had nearly been involved 
in a war with the emperor, on account of his sister 
Mary, and her determination to abide by the papal 
forms of divine worship. 

This affair of the mass was occasioned by informa- 
tion of a plan, on the part of Charles V., to fit out 
some ships at Antwerp, and to transport the Lady 
Mary, either by violence or by stealth, out of England 
to his own Flemish dominions. In concert with this 
plan, several of her attendants had already gone over, 
and it was expected that war would be waged against 
England in her name ; and, as Haywood relates, upon 
these dangers or fears, the Lord Chancellor and Secre- 
tary Petre were sent to the Lady Mary, and they, after 
some conference, brought her to the young king at West- 
minster, she passing some time, on her way, at Lees 
and Hunsdon. When arrived at court, the council 
declared unto her how long the king had permitted 
her the use of the mass ; and perceiving by her letters 



AX J) II Kit TIMES. 187 

how immoveable she was, he was resolved no longer to 
endure it, unless she would put him in hopes of some 
conformity within a short time. To this she answered 
that her soul was God's, and, touching her faith, as 
she could not change, so she would not dissemble it. 
Reply was made that the king intended not to constrain 
her faith, but solely to restrain the outward profession 
of it. 

The king's health was so much shook by these con- 
tests, that he was advised to make a progress through 
part of the kingdom in order to divert his mind. Such 
was the motive urged to persuade him to the tour; 
but it is said that his ministers wished to try it as an 
experiment to remove the discontents of the people, 
and to influence the elections. 

Whatever might have been the ostensible or real 

motives of this journey, it certainly took place in the 

course of the summer ; of which absence of the court 

from town Lady Jane took advantage to pay a visit, 

of ceremony at least, if not of affection, to her cousin 

the Princess Mary, at her mansion of Newhall, in 

Essex*. 

* This place is so connected with persons conspicuous in En- 
glish history, as to deserve some slight topographical notice. 
Passing over its origin as part of the possessions of Waltham 
Ah bey, until exchanged by the monks with Sir John de Shardi- 
lowe, in the reign of Edward III., for other lands; it first ap- 
pears as a royal property, appertaining to Margaret of Anjou, 
from whom it fell to the crown during the civil contests of York 
and Lancaster, and was granted by Henry VII. to Uotelcr, Earl 



188 LADY JANE GEE1', 

During this visit an occurrence happened, which is 
stated by Fox, in his Acts and Monuments, to have 
had considerable influence upon her future fate. She 
was asked by Lady Anne Wharton to take a ramble 
one afternoon ; and their walk leading them past the 
Lady Mary's popish chapel, Lady Anne made a low 
curtesy to the host which was then lying on the altar. 
The young protestant did not understand this species 
of homage, and naturally asked if Lady Mary were in 
the chapel ; to which Lady Anne answered, " No ; w 
adding, that she had made her curtesy to him that made 
us all ! " Why," replied the sprightly and intelligent 
girl, " how can he be there that made us all, and the 
baker made him ?" Fox adds, that " this hir answer 
comming to the Lady Marie's eare, she did never love 
hir after, as is credibly reported, but esteemid hir as 
the rest of that christian profession." 

This event certainly deserves notice, and shows that 
Lady Jane would have received but little favour from 
her royal cousin, in after times, even if she had not 
been placed, by the ambition of her family, in the 

of Ormond, who first fortified the manor house, and made con- 
siderable additions to it. By marriage it came to Sir Thomas 
Boleyn, who exchanged it with his son-in-law Henry VIII., that 
monarch calling it Beaulieu, and often making it his residence. 
He assigned it to Mary. Elizabeth afterwards gave it to Rat- 
eliffe, Earl of Suffolk ; by whom it was sold to Villiers, Duke 
of Buckingham. In 1651, Oliver Cromwell purchased it for 
fire shillings! 



AND HER TIMES. 189 

situation of an usurper ; an act, however, as yet per- 
haps unthought of by the parties themselves. 

The Duke of Northumberland's ambitious plans 
seemed at this period to have been far from maturity, 
yet it is a very curious fact, that they had found their 
way into public report, perhaps by the duke's own 
permission, in order to prepare the people for the pro- 
posed change in the succession. Some interesting 
anecdotes upon this subject are preserved in a MS. 
in the British Museum *, where it appears that a gos- 
siping story had been sent by Sir William Stafford, 
from his seat at Rochford, in Essex, to the privy 
council, detailing the rambling expressions of a Mrs. 
Elizabeth Huggones, which he described as " unseemly 
saiyenges, neither meet to be spoken, nor conseyled of 
any hearer ." 

This Mrs. Huggones, who had formerly been a ser- 
vant to the Duchess Dowager of Somerset, seems to 
have spoken out very openly respecting the Duke of 
Somerset's death, as occasioned by the intrigues of the 
Duke of Northumberland, whom she considered as 
more worthy of the scaffold than her late master. Per- 
haps the good lady's heart was a little warmed, as the 
conversation is stated to have taken place at supper, 
for she was also accused by Sir William of having said 
that the young King Edward showed himself an un- 
natural nephew, and then wished that she had the 
* Had. Coll. No. 353. 



190 LADY JANE GREY, 

jerking of him. Her tongue once set agoing, the jolly 
dame knew not where to stop, for she added, that Lord 
Guildford Dudley was to marry the daughter of the 
Earl of Cumberland (cousin to Lady Jane), and that 
the match was planned by the king himself; and then 
" with a stoute gesture," she cried, " Have at the crown 
with your leave !" 

This was about the latter end of August ; and so 
important did the story appear to the privy council, 
that the talkative dame actually underwent a formal 
examination on the 8th of September, before Sir Robert 
Bowes, Master of the Robes, and Sir Arthur Darcy, 
Lieutenant of the Tower, when, however, she denied 
great part of Stafford's story, declaring her great esteem 
for the Duke of Northumberland. " And, moreover, 
she being examyned of the laste article concernynge 
the marry age of the Lord Guilford Dudley e with the 
Erie of Cumberland's daughter, she deposeth that she 
heard it spoken in London (but by whom she nowe 
remembreth not), that the kinges ma tic . had made such 
a marryage, and so she tould the firste nyghte that she 
came to Rochford to supper, showinge herself to be 
glad thereof, and so she thoughte that all the heareres 
were also glad at that marryage." 

If Edward really did propose such a marriage, for 
it is not likely to have originated with Dudley himself, 
it may be considered as adding to the probability of 
J lis own attachment to Lady Jane, and perhaps his 



AND HER TIMES. 



191 



purpose of raising her thus to the throne. This is evi- 
dent, inasmuch as the marriage of Lord Guildford with 
Lady Janets cousin, the Earl of Cumberland's daugh- 
ter, would have been four steps further off from any 
chance of the succession, and would have rendered it 
necessary for the ambitious duke not only to set aside 
Mary and Elizabeth, but also the Duchess of Suffolk 
and her three daughters. Such a measure would have 
been by no means compatible with Northumberland's 
policy; nor could any plausible excuse have been 
found for it, unless he had extended the charge of 
illegitimacy to them also on the Brandon, or on the 
Dorset marriage. 

But we are now approaching the most important 
period of the life of Lady Jane, and shall therefore 
conclude this section with the close of the year 1552 ; 
at which period she was still under the tuition of the 
pious Aylmer, improving daily in Christian simplicity 
and virtue, as in beauty and accomplishments. 




192 LADY JANE GREY, 



SECTION IV. 

Edward's last Illness — Northumberland's Plans — Antiquarian 
Anecdote of Bridewell — Family of Dudley, Duke of North- 
umberland — Political Opinions and popular Feelings — Cor- 
respondence with Cecil — Courtship of Lady Jane and Lord 
Guildford — Marriage — Courtly Ceremonies and Rejoicings — 
Family Consequences — Continental and Home Politics in 
Regard to the Protestant Religion— Mary's Claims and Ex- 
pectations — Courtly Politics and Will of Edward, confirming 
the Succession upon Lady Jane — Claims of Margaret, Dowager 
of Scotland— Death of Edward VI. 

In the early part of the year 1553, the young and de- 
licate Edward caught a violent cold, which grew rather 
worse than better ; occasioned, as supposed, by inju- 
dicious medical* treatment : so that in March, when 
the new parliament met, they were obliged to go to 
him at Whitehall, instead of his opening them per- 
sonally at Westminster. They sat only a month, and 
having finished a few important things that were 
brought before them, were dissolved; leaving the 
Dukes of Suffolk and Northumberland as great in 
power as they could wish to be, with only one object 
for their wishes — that of preserving the high authority 
which they had gained*. 

* It was during this last illness of the youthful monarch that 
Bridewell was granted for the accommodation of the poor : as 



AXD ITER TIMES. if)) 

In the midst of this prosperity the still rapid decline 
of the king's health seemed, however, to threaten them 
with some sudden reverse of fortune; for which the 
penetration and sagacity of Northumberland suggested 
the plan of altering the succession to the throne : but 

appears from an original letter in the Lansdown Coll. Brit. Mus. 
No. 3. 28. from the Bishop of London to Sir William Cecil, 
which begins, " Good Mr. Cecil, I muste be suter unto you, in 
our M r Christes cause, I beseche you be good unto him. The 
matter is this, alas, he hathe byne twoo long abrode (as you do 
knowe) wythout lodginge in the stretes of London, bothe hun- 
grie, naked, and colde. Now, thankes be unto Allmighty God, 
the citizens are wyllynge to refresh him, and to greete him bothe 
meete, drinke, clothyng, and fyreinge, but alas, Syr, they lacke 
lodging for him, for in some one howse I dare saye they are fainc 
to lodge the families under one roof. Sir, there is a wide large 
emptie howse of the kinge's majesties, called Bridewell, that 
would wonderfullie well serve to lodge Christe in iff he myght 
finde suche goode frendes in the courte to procure in his cause. 
Surelie I have suche a good opinion in the kinges majestie that 
yff Christe had suche faithfulle and trustic freindes that would 
hartely speake for him, he should undoubtedlie succede at the 
kinge's majestie's hands. Syr, I have promysed my brethren 
the citizens in this matter to move you, because I doe take you 
for one that feareth God, and woulde that Christe should lye 
no more abrode in the stretes. Ther is a rumor that one goth 
aboute to buy that howse of the kinge's majestic, in order to 
pull it downe. Yff ther be any suche thinge, for God's sake 
speake you in our master's name. I have wrytten unto Mr. 
Gates more at large yn this matter. I join you with him and 
all that love and looke for Christe's finall benediction at the 
latter daie. Iff Mr. Cheake is almost recouvrid, God be blessed. 
Were he amongst you, I would suerlie make him in this business 
one of Christe's specyalle advocates, or rather one of his prin- 
cipal] protectors, and suerlie I would not be sente away. And 
thus I wishe you in Christe, and well to fare. From my howse 

o 



194 LADY JANE GREY, 

this he did not think it prudent to bring forward be- 
fore certain measures should be taken for effectually 
securing the safety of his own family, by matching 
into that to which he meant to transfer the crown. 
Yet Northumberland had still a just foresight of the 
great hazards to which they must be exposed by so 
bold a measure; he, therefore, contrived to fortify 
both houses still more, by other advantageous matches, 
which, considering his then high and flourishing con- 
dition, were easily brought about. 

In consonance with this, his three eldest sons were 
already married; so that his selection of a husband 
therefore for Lady Jane, fell of course upon his fourth 
son, the Lord Guildford Dudley, who is described by 
Heylin, as having the least in him like to his father. 

It must be allowed, that Rowe, in his tragedy of 
Lady Jane, explains the conduct both of Northumber- 
land and Suffolk, upon principles more honourable to 
them than those of mere ambition, in the following 
scene :— 

Nor. 'Tis all in vain ; heav'n has required its pledge, 
And he must die. 



at Fulham, this presente Sondaie, beinge the xxix' day of May, 

1553. 

Y rs in Christ, 

Ilic. London. 
" I pray you suffer the bearer 

herof to talk ii or iii words 

with you in this cause." 



AND HER T] M 

Suf. Is there an honest heart 
That loves our England docs not mourn for Edward ? 
The genius of our isle is shook with sorrow, 
Religion melts in ev'ry holy eye. 

Nor. Ay, there, my lord, you touch our heaviest loss ; 
With him our holy faith is doom'd to suffer; 
With him our church shall veil her sacred front, 
Pride, ignorance, and rapine, shall return ; 
Blind hloody zeal and cruel priestly pow'r 
Shall scourge the land for ten dark ages more. 

Sir J. Is there no help in all the healing art, 
No potent juice or drug, to save a life 
So precious, and prevent a nation's fate ? 

Nor. What has been left untried that art could do ? 

The world, however, not even excluding their own 
partisans, did not implicitly believe the existence of 
such generous motives ; much less could a liberal con- 
ception of their views be expected from their opponents 
and rivals. 

In the rage of political enmity it was repeatedly as- 
serted at that period that the Duke of Northumber- 
land's grandfather had been a base born mechanic ; 
but the fact is, that his family name was originally 
Sutton, and his ancestors Barons of Dudley ; whence 
his grandfather, Sir John Dudley, took his name, 
being the second son of John, Lord Dudley, who was 
honoured with the order of the garter, during the wars 
of the Roses. 

The eldest son of Sir John was the famous, by some 
called the infamous, Edmund Dudley, whose name is 

o 2 



J 



19G LADY JANE GREY, 

generally linked with that of Empson in English history, 
during the reign of Henry VII. Edmund was born 
in 1462; was a privy counsellor at twenty -three, and 
throughout his life engaged in various offices about the 
court and person of the king. 

Lord Bacon speaks of him as a person in great 
credit with his country, as well as in high favour with 
his prince, whom he served in promoting the filling of 
his coffers, under colour of the law, though with very 
little respect to the principles of equity and justice. 
Yet it is extraordinary that, notwithstanding the nu- 
merous charges against him in history, it is scarcely 
possible now to ascertain in what specific capacity he 
was enabled to fleece the public as generally stated ; 
for there is no proof of his having held the offices of 
under-sheriff of London, of a puisne judge, or baron 
of the Exchequer, or attorney or solicitor-general, all 
of which have been supposed ; it is only certain that 
he was one of the most distinguished lawyers of the 
day — a serjeant at law, Speaker of the House of Com- 
mons, and a privy counsellor. 

He married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Grey, 
Viscount Lisle, sister and co-heiress of John, Viscount 
Lisle ; by whom he had John, afterwards Duke of 
Northumberland, and father-in-law of Lady Jane 
Grey, born about 1502; seven years after which, 
Edmund lost his head, for Henry VII. was scarcely 



AND HER TIMES. 197 

dead, when he was sent to the Tower, the clamour of 
the people being so great, that this step was thought 
necessary to pacify them. On the 16th of July, 150D, 
Edmund was arraigned and found guilty of treason 
at Guildhall, before commissioners appointed for the 
purpose, being afterwards attainted in parliament in 
January, 1510 ; and on the 18th of August following, 
he was beheaded, much against the wishes of the king. 
But the whole of the attainder was afterwards reversed, 
on the petition of Edward Guildford, Esq. guardian 
of his orphan son, and the estates restored ; but they 
were not very large, according to modern ideas, 
amounting to no more than eight hundred pounds 
per annum, and about £ 20,000 in money; and this is 
but a small sum, even at that day, for a man accused 
of having robbed both the king and the public, when 
we recollect that he had inherited a great portion of it 
from his mother, besides his own fair emoluments and 
salaries in the exercise of his profession. 

John, afterwards Duke of Northumberland, was 
born, as we have stated, in 1502 ; and two other sons, 
y Ambrose and Jerome, some years afterwards. He 
distinguished himself in early life, attending Brandon, 
Duke of Suffolk, to France, and attaching himself to 
Cardinal Wolsey ; besides serving sheriff of Stafford- 
shire, before his fixing at court, where he became 
Master of the Horse to Anne of Cleves. His services, 
both by land and sea, form part of the history of 



19«S LADY JANE GREY, 

that reign. He married Jane Guildford, daughter and 
heir of Sir Edward Guildford, Lord Warden of the 
Cinque Ports, when he was scarcely of age. 

Several parts of his character, as drawn by Lloyd 
in his State Worthies, may serve to illustrate the events 
of this period. That author says, that Dudley's " fa- 
vour was first purchased by his father's blood, and im- 
proved by his own cunning. King Henry sacrificed 
Sir Edmund Dudley to allay the people's rage, and 
raised his son to appease his ghost ;" adding the ob~ 
servation, that, " he that disobligeth a multitude, must 
fall himself; but he that in so doing serveth his king, 
may advance his posterity ." It is clear, however, that 
whatever the people's opinion of his father, in Dudley 
himself they placed great confidence ; for Lloyd asserts, 
that when he marched against the rebels in Devonshire, 
and promised them mercy if they would submit, those 
unhappy persons replied, that " they knew him so ho- 
nourable, that if he came himself they would embrace 1 '' 
the offer. 

That he knew how to cajole the great, as well as lie 
could gain popularity amongst the many, may be well 
believed from the perusal of the following epistle, to 
Mr. Secretary (Sir William) Cecil, written about the 
7th of May, in this year, whilst he was maturing his 
double plan, for a matrimonial union of the Greys and 
Dudleys, and for the arrangement of a new line of suc- 
cession*. 

• Brit. Mus. Lansdown (oil No. 3 



a xi) hi:i: TIMES 199 

" I hauc rcceyvcd such lcttres as came in y' packytt, 
for the wch I hartelie thank y' wishynge, yt myght 
haue byn so as yre helthe wolde haue pmyttcd you to 
haue delivered theym yorselfe. Yt was styll sayd here 
that you had but a of an ague, but now e 

we here to the contrarye, and that you have byn .... 
or some fytte grevousiy handelyd, for the wch I am 
ryght sorye, trusting to God the worste ys past, wherof 
I wolde be as gladde as any man, bothe for your owne 
comforte and allso for the advancement of the kings 
waightye affaires. Your companyon dothe beare out 
the burdeyn with as moche payne as any man can do, 
so moche ys his good wyll towardes the arms of his 
master and his contrye, that of a great deale of payne 
he makith little appearance. Others now haue whos 
souls you are well acquaynted with all, that nether 
erneste zeale or consyderacon of tyme can skarslye 
awake them out of theyr wontyd dreemes, and smoothly 
wynkithe all care from their hartte, howe urgente or 
waightye soever our causses ar, wheh things I can so 
yvill beere, as indede of lat, but for my dutyes to the 
stat, my harte colde skarslye endure the maner of yt, 
speciallye in this our most carefull dayes. Well, I do 
herwith to moche trouble you, and recey vith no plesser 
wth so often remembrynge theyr forgetfulness, or I 
sholde saye the carelesnes of others. But now I will re- 
compfort you with the joyfull compfort which our plies- 
sicianc hathe thes too or thre mornyugs revyved my 



£00 LADY JANE GREY, 

spirite with, all which is that our sovraine lorde do the 
beginne very joyfully to enryche and amende, they 
haveing no doubte of the shorte recoverye of his high- 
nes, the rather, he sais, his my tie ys fully bent to folio 
theyr counsell and advys. And this w th my hartie 
comendacons I wish your pfytt helthe, from Grene- 
wych, this vh th of May, 1553. 

Yr assured loving frend, 

Northumberland." 

Even if political objects had been out of the question, 
the Duke of Suffolk could not have had any objections 
to a son of Northumberland for his daughter ; for, in- 
dependent of the gentility, or nobility of the Dudleys*, 
as it was then termed, the words gentle and noble being 
considered as nearly if not quite synonymous, the Lord 
Guildford had an ancient genealogy to boast of by his 
mothers side; as it appears on her monument in 
More's chapel, in Chelsea church, that she quartered 
Mortimer, West, Lord Lawar, Cantilupe, and Grelle. 
It is evident, indeed, that Suffolk made no objections ; 
and Rowe states the conference as follows : 

Nor. Your grace's princely daughter, Lady Jane, 
Is she yet come to court ? 

Stif. Not yet arrived, 
But with the soonest I expect her here : 
I know her duty to the dying king, 

* Dudley bore Ok, a lion rampant, double tailed, or queue 
jburchc, Vert. 



AND HER TIMES. 201 

Join'd with my strict commands to hasten hither, 
Will bring her on the wing. 

Nor. Beseech your grace 
To speed another messenger to press her ; 
For on her happy presence all our counsels 
Depend and take their fate. 

Suf. Upon the instant 
Your grace shall be obey'd : I go to summon her. 

Though this was certainly, on the part of friends 
and relatives, a match of ambition ; yet, young as the 
parties were, it may also have been a match of attach- 
ment, for the families had for some years been in 
habits of intimacy. The courtship, however, must 
have been but short; there was no time for the 
lover, according to the custom of those days, to ap- 
proach his sovereign mistress with vows of love, but 
still not until he softened her heart, and opened the 
way for his personal addresses, by some sweet madrigal, 
or romantic panegyric, extolling her beauty, graces, 
and virtues, above all other women ! 

Nor had the youthful Jane an opportunity of imi- 
tating the fair damsels of her time ; the custom being, 
as stated in the old chronicles, for enamoured " maydes 
and gentilwomen," to give to their favourite swains, as 
tokens of their love, little handkerchiefs about three or 
four inches square, wrought round about, often in em- 
broidery, with a button or tassel at each corner, and 
a little one in the centre. The finest of these favours 
were edged with narrow gold lace, or twist ; and then, 



202 LADY JANE GREY, 

being folded up in four cross folds, so as the middle 
might be seen, they were worn by the accepted lovers 
in their hats, or at the breast. 

These favours became at last so much in vogue, that 
they were sold ready made in the shops in Elizabeth's 
time, from sixpence to sixteen-pence a piece. 

Tokens were also given by the gentlemen, and ac- 
cepted by their fair mistresses ; thus described in an 
old comedy of the time* : 

u Given earings we will wear 
Bracelets of our lover's hair ; 
Which they on our arms shall twist, 
(With our names carved) on our wrists." 

Rowe, in his tragedy, makes the courtship only pre- 
cede the death of Edward; but there he departed 
from historical truth for the sake, perhaps, of dra- 
matic effect. He thus describes the first annunciation 
of the projected union to Lady Jane, making North- 
umberland say : 

Meanwhile 1 beg your grace would straight inform 
Your princely daughter of our resolution : 
Our common int'rest in that happy tie 
Demands our swiftest care to see it finish'd. 

Duch. My lord, you have determined well. Lord Guil- 
ford, 
Be it your task to speak at large our purpose. 
Daughter, receive this lord as one whom I, 
Your father and his own, ordain your husband : 

* Cupid's Revenge. Beau, and Fid. 



AND ITER TIMES. 203 

What more concerns our will, and your obedience, 
We leave you to receive from him at leisure. 

The first interview, after formal introduction, he 
thus delineates: 

G nil. Hail, princely maid ! who with auspicious beauty 
Cheer'st ev'ry drooping heart in this sad place, 
Who like the silver regent of the night 
Lift'st up thy sacred beams upon the land, 
To bid the gloom look gay, dispel our horrors, 
And make us less lament the setting sun. 

Lady J. Yes, Guilford, well dost thou compare my pre- 
sence 
To the faint comfort of the waning moon ; 
Like her cold orb a cheerless gleam I bring. 
But say, how fares the king ? 

Guil. He lives as yet. 
But ev'ry moment cuts away a hope, 
Adds to our fears, and gives the infant saint 
Great prospect of his op'ning heav'n. 

Lady J. Oh Guilford ! w T hat remains for wretched England 
When he our guardian angel shall forsake us? 

Guil. I own my heart bleeds inward at the thought, 
And yet forgive me, thou my native country, 
Thou land of liberty, thou nurse of heroes, 
Forgive me, if, in spite of all thy dangers, 
New springs of pleasure flow within my bosom, 
When thus 'tis giv'n me to behold those eyes, 
Thus gaze, and wonder. 

Lady J. Oh, vain flattery ! 
Lead me to pay my duty to the king, 
To wet his pale cold hand with these last tears, 
And share the blessings of his parting breath. 

Guil. Were I like dying Edward, sure a touch 
Of this dear hand would kindle life anew. 



s 



204 LADY JANE GKEY, 

But I obey, I dread that gath'ring frown ; 
And oh ! whene'er my bosom swells with passion, 
And my full heart is pain'd with ardent love, 
T' allow me but to look on you and sigh, 
Is all the humble joy that Guilford asks. 

That Lord Guildford could not fail to gain the 
heart of Lady Jane, even if no attachment had pre- 
viously existed, we may readily believe ; for Grafton, 
in his chronicle, calls him a very comely tall gentle- 
man : and not being quite twenty years of age, he was 
the more likely to interest a girl of sixteen, learned as 
she was. 

Every thing being settled between the parties, the 
intended union was disclosed to the youthful monarch ; 
who is said to have been highly pleased with it, and, 
though naturally economical, to have been very boun- 
tiful upon the occasion. 

It is uncertain whether the wedding took place to- 
wards the latter end of May, or beginning of June ; 
but the former is generally the received date. Added 
to which, Grafton, and several of the other early histo- 
rians, say, that three marriages were celebrated on this 
day ; the first that of Lady Jane, the second between 
Lord Herbert, eldest son of the Earl of Pembroke, 
and Lady Katharine, younger sister of the bride; 
whilst the third was between Henry, Lord Hastings, 
eldest son of the Earl of Huntingdon, and Lady 
Katharine Dudley, the youngest sister of Lord Guild- 
ford. 



AND HER TIMES. SiUO 

The state ceremony with which this marriage was 
celebrated is much spoken of by the historians of the 
time : and Strype records, that for the solemnity and 
splendour the master of the wardrobe had orders to 
deliver out of the king's wardrobe much rich apparel 
and jewels, to the Duchesses of Suffolk and Northum- 
berland, to the Marchioness of Northampton, to Lady 
Jane herself, and to Lord Guildford Dudley, for wed- 
ding apparel. These articles, it is curious to observe, 
were not new, but consisted of tissues, of cloth of gold 
and silver, &c. the property of the late Duke and 
Duchess of Somerset, which had been forfeited to the 
king, on the attainder of that nobleman : a convincing 
proof of the young king's economy, already alluded 
to, as well as of his bounty *. 

* It may be amusing, in this place, to ascertain what formed 
an exact dress suit of a lady of rank in those times ; which ap- 
pears to be recorded in the following inventory of articles con- 
tained in " a cofer covered with grene vellet laied on with 
passemyne lace of golde, and the yron thereof all gilte." — 
" Item, one paire of sables double unlyned — Item, a corse of 
white tapheta to put on the said sables — Item, a cappe case of 
murrey vellet with a hatte of purple vellet embrodered with 
damaske golde, and garnished w lh sondrie small diamontes, 
rubies, and p'les — Item, two mufflers of purple vellet likewise 
embrodered and garnished, one of them furred — Item, one sable 
skynne with a hedde of golde, conteyninge in it a cloake with 
a collar of golde enamelled blacke, set with foure diamontes and 
iiii rubies, and with twoo p'les hanginge at the eares, and two 
rubies in the eyes, the same skynne havinge also fete of golde, 
the clawes thereof being saphires, two of them binge broken, and 
with a diamounte upon the cloake— Item, one other like sable 



^ 



206 LADY JAXE GREY, 

We have not been able to procure any further ac- 
count of the proceedings on this interesting occasion ; 
but the general custom was for the bride, attired in a 
dress highly ornamented with gold and embroidery, 
with her hair hanging down her back, curiously combed 
and plaited, to be led to the church " between two 
sweet boys, with bride laces, and rosemary tied about 
their silken sleeves." Before the bride was carried a 
fair bride cup, of silver gilt, " wherein was a goodly 
branch of rosemary, gilded very fair, and hung about 
with silken ribbands of all colours ; next there was 
a noise of musicians, that played all the way before 
her."" Then followed a train of virgins, some bearing 
bride-cakes, and others garlands, ornamented with 
gold ; " and the bride groom finely apparelled, with 
the young men, followed close behind." 

That such was the precise order of Lady Janets 
wedding, we cannot vouch ; but such was the custom 
of the time in proceeding to the altar : then there were 
scarfs, and gloves, an epithalamium, masques some- 
times, and all the company bedecked with the bride's 
colours, in every form and fantasy. 

When this wedding took place, the populace of the 
metropolis, though very far from being pleased with 

skynne, with a hedde of golde musled, garnished and set with 
iiii emeralds, foure turquises, vi rubies, two diamountes, and v 
p'les, with foure fite of golde cchc set with a turquise, the 
tonge beinge a rubie." 



AND HER TIMES. 207 

the exorbitant greatness of the Duke of Northumber- 
land, yet could not help admiring that beauty and 
innocence which appeared in Lord Guildford and his 
lovely bride. At court, too, the rejoicings and general 
approval were equally marked ; but, as it has been 
observed, the pomp and splendour attending the cele- 
bration of these nuptials formed the last gleam of joy 
that shone in the palace of the youthful Edward, who 
grew so weak in a few days after, that Northumber- 
land thought it time to carry his great project into 
execution ; without which, he saw clearly, that himself 
and his friends could neither expect to continue long 
in power, or even security. 

As for the youthful bride herself, whatever her love 
for her lord, and perhaps her secret satisfaction at 
being relieved from parental severity, though not an 
alien from their affections, she no doubt experienced 
some little regret at the breaking up of her studies, 
in consequence not only of her marriage, but also of 
her removal from her family mansion to Durham 
House, in town, and Sion House, in the country, the 
residences of the Dudleys : and at the former of which 
the marriage is stated to have been celebrated. In 
short, as a contemporary writer observes, she had then 
to bid adieu to the sweet delights of study, and the 
improvement of her mind, for the less interesting ob- 
jects of mere worldly ambition. 

How far our young female readers will agree with 



208 LADY JANE GREY, 

this, we shall not pretend to say ; but Lady Jane, and 
we hope they will, when so circumstanced, follow her 
example, did not allow even marriage to put a stop to 
her mental progress in improvement ; for it was at this 
very period that she wrote her third admired letter to 
Bullinger. She was forced, however, soon to adopt a 
more active political life, though neither by her own 
free consent, nor for her own happiness. 

In the early part of June, and very soon after the 
marriage, Edward's health began rapidly to decline ; 
so that Northumberland was, in some measure, obliged 
to hasten his plans, perhaps before they had arrived at 
their proposed maturity. Indeed, his task was an 
arduous one ; for he had not only to engage the dying 
monarch's consent, but also the approbation of the 
parliament and people. 

With respect to the king, his principal apparent 
motive was the danger to be feared for the protestant 
religion, should the succession, as settled by Henry's 
will, be allowed to take place, seating Mary on the 
throne. This was attacking the royal youth on a 
subject near to his heart; and, in fact, the setting 
aside of Mary from the succession was now a point of 
most important consideration to all those who wished 
for freedom of conscience, and for the freedom of Eng- 
land from all foreign interference : for it is expressly 
stated, in a paper drawn up by Sir Richard Moryson*, 
* Brit. Mtts. Harl. Coll. I. 353, 43. 



AM) IlEli TIMES. 209 

that the Emperor of Germany had proceeded to very 
extraordinary lengths, " to procure," as he said, 
" libertie of conscience for the Lady Marie." 

" The emperor findinge all his pceedings against 
the Gearmanes much stained by thinges done in Eng- 
lande, was for no other cause so loathe to fale out w th 
the French kinge, as that he knew Englande shoulde 
therby be at greateste reste, and haue a tyme to 
setle thinges of religion so begune and allredie gone 
forwarde, that he was in despaire to bringe them backe 
againe ; yet that men may alwaies knowe, the divell to 
keepe no hollydayes. ,, — he then proceeds to state how 
the emperor ordered his " ambassador lidger in Eng- 
lande to Kinge Edwarde, that the Lady Mary might 
haue her conscience free, and thinke all lawes made 
since her fatheres deathe as concernynge religion to 
touch her no whyt at all." 

This, however, the council chose to oppose; and the 
youthful monarch, in supporting their determinations, 
displayed a clearness of judgment, and a strength of 
mind, honourable to himself, and patriotic towards his 
country. In regard to this affair, a long memoir was 
drawn up by Sir Richard Morrison, then ambassador' 
at the imperial court, " shewing the godly and ver- 
tuous resolution of Kinge Edwarde y e 6, upon y e em- 
perour's demaund, to have y e Ladie Mary, y e kinge's 
suster, to be allowed libertie of her conscience in Eng- 
lande, Ano. 1553." 

r 



210 LADY JANE GREY, 

On this occasion, both politics and religion were 
called in, to persuade the youthful prince to swerve 
from his resolves : but in vain. Even " two bishopes 
were sent to pswade him ; they did alledge that there 
were good kinges in the oulde testamente, that had 
suffered hill alteres, and yet were praised for good 
kinges. He aunswered them roundly, that as exam- 
ples when they are good, and had Gode to allow 
them, are lefte to us to followe them ; so are eivell exam- 
ples set out to showe that they were men, and did faile 
of that pfection which God requirethe in his, to teache 
us not to be followers of them, but utterlye to warne 
us in any wyse to shunne them." 

But it was not sufficient for Northumberland's plans 
that Mary should be set aside ; it was necessary that 
Elizabeth's claims should also be annulled: and he 
therefore urged, both to the king and in council, that 
if Mary was illegitimate, so must Elizabeth be also ; 
both marriages, of Katharine of Arragon, and Anne 
Boleyn, having been dissolved. He therefore showed 
to the king, who was at first unwilling to wrong his sister 
Elizabeth, that either the will of Henry must be al- 
lowed to stand good in all respects, thus settling the 
succession on a Catholic, or else both princesses be set 
aside ; since what applied to Mary applied equally to 
Elizabeth. 

With this reasoning the dying monarch was either 
convinced or overpowered; and when lie observed 



AND IIEU TIMES. 211 

that the Duchess of Suffolk would then be the next 
heir, he was informed that Jady" had consented to de- 
cline her own right in favour of her eldest daughter, 
even though she herself was yet young enough to have 
an increase of family, and might thus have male heirs 
to claim the crown : which eventual claim, however, as 
we shall presently see, was to be guarded against and 
forbidden. 

Now, under all circumstances, the only rational way 
of guarding against such a claim, even had the people 
of England consented to the change in the succession, 
and to the setting aside of Henry's will, would cer- 
tainly have been for the duchess herself to have filled 
the throne : but this would have been to elevate Suf- 
folk, without any immediate chance of supreme, yet 
concealed, influence for Northumberland ; and accord- 
ingly the flimsy system of pushing on his daughter-in- 
law to the crown was adopted. It is strange that a 
man of his political knowledge could have thus been 
blinded, by ambition, to the fact that even those who 
wished, for conscience sake, to set aside Mary, would 
be unwilling to adopt a plan that might eventually 
lead to civil wars by the birth of male claimants from 
the duchess. Yet so it was; at least Northumber- 
land, if he saw it, was determined to carry his point 
in the first instance, either by cajolment or by force. 

To state all the steps which he took for that pur- 
pose is here unnecessary : it is sufficient to record that 

r2 



212 LADY JANE GREY, 

on the 11th of June, Sir Edward Montague, chief 
justice of the common pleas, and two of the judges, 
with the attorney and solicitor-general, were sent for to 
the council, and required to draw up an assignment of 
the crown to Lady Jane. 

These judges requested a little time to consider of 
it ; and at last answered that they could not presume 
to do any such thing without being guilty of high 
treason: adding, that all the privy counsellors, who 
might consent to such a measure, would inevitably 
incur all the pains and penalties of the act of succes- 
sion, already detailed in a former section. 

At this plain answer, Northumberland flew into the 
utmost rage, and exhibited the most uncontrollable 
fury ; calling Montague a traitor, and threatening the 
other judges so that, as they afterwards declared, they 
thought he would have beaten them. They withstood 
all this for the time, however; but being sent for 
again on the 15th, they were so wrought upon by 
Dudley's threats, backed by the promise of a pardon 
under the great seal, that they consented to draw up 
the proposed settlement, which was then signed by all 
the rest of the judges, except Hales, who could not be 
prevailed on to act contrary to the express statute. 

The will, as it was said, was drawn up by Sir Ed- 
ward Montague, then lord chief justice of the common 
pleas, who afterwards endeavoured to justify himself 
to Mary for so doing. In his defence he throws great 



-\\i) ii i: ii times. 218 

blame on the Duke of Northumberland*, whom he 
describes as using great threats in the council, when 
some demur took place as to drawing up the new 
articles of succession, which, it was contended, could 
not set aside an express act of parliament : but to this 
objection the young king himself answered, that it 
was his intention shortly to call a parliament, who 
should ratify that which he then wished to be done. 

Montague adds, that he himself " was in as great 
fear as ever he was in all his life before, seeing the king 
so earnest and sharpe, and the said duke so angry the 
day before, who ruled the whole councill as it pleased 
him, and w r ere all afraid of him, (the more is the pitty) 
so that such cowardnesse and feare was there never 
seen amongst honourable men, as it hath appeared."" 

The purport of the proposed settlement shall be 
more fully explained when we come to the royal pro- 
clamation published in Lady Jane's name : it is suf- 
ficient here to observe, that in the British Museum -f* 
there is " a true coppi of y e counterfet wille supposed 
to be y e laste wille and testament of Kinge Edwarde 
y c Sixt, forgede and publishede under y e great seale of 
Englande, by the confederacie of y e Dukes of Suffolke 
and Northumberlande, on y e behalfe of the Lady 
Jane, eldest daughter to the said Duke of Suffolke, 
and testifiede w th y e hands of 101 of y e cheife of the 

* Vide Fuller's Church History, Book viii. 
r Harl. Coll. No. $6, p. 364. 



&14 LADY JANE GREY, 

nobilliti, and princepall men of note of this kingdom ; 
dated y e 21 day of June, an° 1553." 

After the usual exordium, with professions of re- 
gard for the commonweal, this instrument notices 
the statute of Henry VIII. regulating the succession 
to Mary and Elizabeth, in default of Edward and 
his issue, subject to limitations by letters patent, or by 
a will of that monarch (Henry) ; then broadly assert- 
ing the illegitimacy of both these princesses, resting 
upon the divorces of their respective mothers, it de- 
clares both of them to be by parliament disabled. 
It also makes the objection of these princesses 
being but of the half blood to Edward, though it is 
evident that their inheritance was from their father, 
and not from him ; which is followed by another ob- 
jection in the probability of their marrying with fo- 
reign princes, " to the utter subversion of the common- 
wealth.'" 

After this follows a curious assertion, that the 
daughters of the Duke of Suffolk, the descendants of 
Mary, youngest sister to Henry VIII. are of the 
whole blood to Edward by the father's side — an irre- 
levant plea certainly after the objection to half blood 
of the superseded princesses — also that they are " na- 
turall borne here within the realm" — " very honor- 
ably brought upe and exercised in good and godly 
learninge, and other noble vertues, so as there is greate 
truste and hope to be had in them that they be and 



AND HER TIMES. 



215 



shalbe very well inclined to the advancement and set- 
tyng forthe of our comon weltli" — on which consi- 
derations the will goes on to state, that the dying 
monarch " doth therefore, upon good deliberation 
and advise, herein had and taken, &c. &c. by these 
presents declare, order, assigne, limett, and appoynte, 
that yf it shall fortune us to decease, having no issue 
of our body lawefully begotten, that then the said im- 
periall crowne and realm, &c. &c. shall be unto the 
eldest sonne of the bodye of the s 1 Lady Frauncis 
(wife of the Duke of Suffolk and grand-daughter of 
Henry VIII.), lawefully begotten, being borne into 
the world in owr lyfe tyme, and to the heires males of 
the bodye of the said eldest sonne, 11 and so from son 
to son — in default of whom, then to " the Ladie Jane, 
eldest daughter of the said Lady Frauncis, &c. &c." 
then to the other sisters ; and, failing them and their 
issue, then to the issue of the Lady Eleanore, sister of 
Lady Frances, &c. with limitations of descent as to 
priority of sons before daughters, grandsons before 
grand-daughters, &c. in each line. 

Beyond these, all the issue of the youngest sister of 
Henry VIII. there were no remainders mentioned; 
and the prior claim of Margaret, Henry's eldest sister, 
then queen dowager of Scotland, and married to a 
second husband, the Earl of Angus, by whom she 
had the Lady Margaret Douglas, married to the Earl 
of Lennox, and mother of Lord Darnley, was totally 



2)6 



LADY JANE GREY, 



forgotten, thus leaving out Mary Queen of Scots, the 
next claimant, her cousin and future husband, Henry 
Lord Darnley, and his brothers and sisters. 

The list of subscribing witnesses to this will is too 
long to be inserted here ; but that the will, as here re- 
corded, is a correct, though not a lawful one, is proved 
by annexed certificate to it. 

" This is a true coppie of Edward the Sixte his will 
takene out of the originall under the great scale, w ch 
Sir Robart Cottone delivered to the king's ma tie the 
xij h of Appril, 1611, at Roystorne, to be canseled." 

As to the claim of Margaret, Queen Dowager of 
Scotland, Henry's eldest sister, being set aside, there 
was one apparent justification in its having been already 
negatived by Henry himself, by virtue of that act of 
parliament which authorised him to regulate the suc- 
cession by will ; but, as Walpole justly observes, that 
negative not being founded on natural expedience, it 
could be of no force, besides its being additionally in- 
validated by his having, by the same authority, yet in 
opposition to his own professed principle, settled the 
crown preferably on his own daughters*. 

Notwithstanding all these considerations, the lords of 

* Such an arrangement, by setting aside Mary of Scotland, 
would have excluded James I., and, consequently, the present 
royal family from the throne. 



AND HER TIMES. 217 

the council set their hands to the assignment in favour 
of Lady Jane, with the exception of Cranmer, the pro- 
testant Archbishop of Canterbury, who was perhaps 
unwilling to bastardize Elizabeth. Indeed he staid 
away from the council to avoid it; but the young 
monarch importuned him so much that, at length, he 
signed it also: yet his unwillingness in this respect 
stood him in no stead with Mary afterwards; who, 
doubtless, knew that it was not his love for her which 
influenced him. 

Of this affair Fuller gives the following brief sum- 
mary: " King Edward, tender in years, and weak 
with sickness, was so practised on by the importunity 
of others, that, excluding his two sisters, he conveyed 
the crown to the Ladie Jane, his kinswoman, by that 
which we may well call the testament of King Edward, 
and the will of the Duke of Northumberland. Thus, 
through the pious intents of this prince, wishing well 
to the reformation ; the religion of Queen Marie, ob- 
noxious to exception; the ambition of Northumberland, 
who would do what he listed ; the simplicity of Suf- 
folk, who would be done with as the other pleased ; 
the dutifulnesse of the Lady Jane, disposed by her 
parents ; the fearfulnesse of the judges, not daring to 
oppose ; and the flattery of the courtiers, most willing 
to comply, matters were made as sure, as man's policy 
can make that good which is bad in itself. But the 
Commons of England, who for many years had conn'd 



218 LADY J AXE GREY, 

loyalty by heart, out of the statute of succession, were 
so perfect in their lesson, that they would not be put 
out of it by this new started designe ; so that every one 
proclaimed Mary next heir in their conscience. ,, 

The death of Edward soon followed, not without 
suspicion of foul play, taking place on the 6th of July, 
1553 ; an event which is thus detailed by Rowe in his 
ragedy : 

Lady J. Wo't thou not break, my heart ! — 

Suf. Alas ! what mean'st thou ? 

Guil. Oh speak! 

Duch. How fares the king ? 

Nor. Say, is he dead ? 

Lady J. The saints and angels have him. 

Duch. When I left him 
He seem'd a little cheer'd. 

Lady J. As I approach'd to kneel and pay my duty, 
He raised his feeble eyes, and faintly smiling, 
Are you then come ? he cried ; I only lived 
To bid farewell to thee, my gentle cousin. 
With that he prest my hand, and oh ! — he said 
When I am gone do thou be good to England, 
Keep to that faith in which we both were bred, 
And to the end be constant. More I would, 
But cannot — There his falt'ring spirits fail'd, 
Then sinking on his pillow, with a sigh 
He breathed his innocent and faithful soul 
Into his hands who gave it. 

Nor. Our grief be on his grave. Our present duty 
Enjoins to see his last commands obey'd. 
I hold it fit his death be not made known 
To any but our friends. To-morrow early 
The council shall assemble at the Tower. 



AND HER TIMES. 



219 



The poet then introduces a scene between Lord 
Guildford and the intended heiress : 

Guil. Good angels minister their comforts to thee ! 
And oh ! 

I beg thee, I conjure thee, drive away 
Those murd'rous thoughts of grief that kill thy quiet, 
Restore thy gentle bosom's native peace, 
Lift up the light of gladness in thy eyes, 
And cheer my heaviness with one dear smile. 

Lady J. Yes, Guildford, I will study to forget 
All that the royal Edward has been to me, 
My private loss no longer will I mourn, 
But ev'ry tender thought to thee shall turn; 
With patience I '11 submit to heav'n's decree, 
And what I lost in Edward find in thee. 
But oh ! when I revolve what ruins wait 
Our sinking altars and the falling state, 
New sorrow to my lab'ring breast succeeds, 
And my whole heart for wretched England bleeds. 

Guil. My heart sinks in me at her soft complaining, 
And ev'ry moving accent that she breathes 
Resolves my courage, slackens my tough nerves, 
And melts me down to infancy and tears. 

But the real historical events we must postpone to 
the next section. 




220 



LADY JANE GTiKV, 



SECTION V. 

Domestic Arrangements after Nuptials— Sion House — Literary 
Studies pursued— Events on Edward's Demise — Announce- 
ment of Dudley's Plans — Lady Jane refuses, but finally ac- 
cepts the Crown— Mary's Proceedings in Claim of the Suc- 
cession — Despatches to Ambassadors at Foreign Courts — Lady 
Jane takes up her Residence in the Tower — Royal Proclama- 
tion — Observations on ditto — Popular Feelings — Further 
Diplomacy — Remarkable Letter of Northumberland — Rising 
in eastern Counties in favour of Mary — Northumberland 
marches with Troops to oppose them —Anecdotes of Lady 
Jane — Of the Crown Jewels, &c. — Further Proceedings of 
her Nine Days' Reign— Duplicity of the Emperor Charles V. 
— Duplicity of the Council in the Tower — Meeting of the 
Disaffected at Baynard's Castle — Proclaiming of Mary — Lady 
Jane deposed — Her Resignation and Fortitude — Declared 
a State Prisoner — Separation from her Husband — Anecdotes, 
&c. &c. 

In the interval between the nuptials of Lady Jane 
and the demise of Edward, the young bride had be- 
come an inmate with the Dudley family ; a change of 
domestic residence which, perhaps, took place imme- 
diately after the ceremony, as that was certainly cele- 
brated at Durham House, the town mansion of North- 
umberland. Summer, however, was so far advanced, 
that the country had superior charms to those of the 
metropolis; and, accordingly, a few days afterwards, 



AND HER TIMES. 221 

the youthful, almost infantine, eouple retired to Sion 
House, which was then, as now, attached to the title 
of Northumberland, having been granted to Dudley 
by Edward VI. about two years previous. 

In this seclusion it is evident that Lady Jane per- 
mitted neither the cares nor the pleasures of matrimony 
to put an end to her studies ; for it was from Sion House 
that she wrote her third letter to Bullinger, preserved 
in the library at Zurich, as a memorial honourable to 
the early reformers. 

Nor did she forget her duty or attention to her noble 
parents, parts of one or two letters to them being still 
extant, from which we present our readers with the 
following autograph : 

In that venerable edifice of Sion House, she re- 
mained, we believe, until the death of Edward, on the 
6th of July; for the sketch of events given by Rowe 
in his tragedy, already quoted, does not appear to 
be confirmed by the historical accounts of the young 
monarch's last illness. We may, however, give Howe's 
delineation of the first interview that took place be- 
tween the fond pair, on Edward's will being an- 
nounced at their mansion : 



222 LADY JANE GIIEV, 

Guil. What shall I say to thee ! what pow'r divine 
Will teach my tongue to tell thee what I feel,, 
To pour the transports of my bosom forth, 
And make thee partner of the joy dwells there ? 
Oh my fair one ! 

Thy Edward shines amongst the brightest stars, 
And yet thy sorrows seek him in the grave. 

Lady J. Alas, my dearest lord ! a thousand griefs 
Beset my anxious heart ; and yet, as if 
The burthen were too little, I have added 
The weight of all thy cares, and, like the miser, 
Increase of wealth has made me but more wretched. 
I tremble, and my anxious heart is pain'd 
Lest aught but good should happen to my Guildford. 

Guil. Nothing but good can happen to thy Guildford 
While thou art by his side, his better angel, 
His blessing and his guard. 

Lady J. Why came we hither ? 

Guil. To thee, my princess, 
Whose royal veins are rich in Henry's blood, 
With one consent the noblest heads are bow'd ; 
From thee they ask a sanction to their counsels, 
And from thy healing hand expect a cure 
For England's loss in Edward. 

Lady J. How ! from me ! 
Alas ! my lord — But sure thou mean'st to mock me ? 

Guil. No, by the love my faithful heart is full of ! 
But see, thy mother, gracious Suffolk, comes 
To intercept my story : she shall tell thee, 
For in her look I read the lab'ring thought, 
What vast event thy fate is now disclosing. 

The poet then describes the duchess as thus ad- 
dressing her amiable daughter : 

Duch. No more complain, indulge thy tears no more, 
Thy pious grief has giv'n the grave its due ; 
Make room to entertain the coming glory ! 



AND HER TIMES. 223 

For majesty and purple greatness court thee, 
Homage and low subjection wait : a crown, 
A crown, my daughter, England's crown, attends 
To bind thy brows with its imperial wreath. 

Lady J. Amazement chills my veins ! What says my 
mother ? 

Duch. 'Tis heav'n's decree : for our expiring Edward, 
When now just struggling to his native skies, 
Ev'n on the verge of heav'n, in sight of angels 
That hover'd round to waft him to the stars, 
Ev'n then declared my Jane for his successor. 

Lady J. Could Edward do this ? could the dying saint 
Bequeath his crown to me ? Oh fatal bounty ! 
To me ! but 'tis impossible ! 

Duch. But see, thy father 
Northumberland, with all the council, come 
To pay their vow'd allegiance at thy feet, 
To kneel and call thee queen. 

Lady J. Support me, Guildford ; 
Give me thy aid ; stay thou my fainting soul, 
And help me to repress this growing danger. 

But we have not any historical authority to assume 
that the Duchess of Suffolk was the first to announce 
the proposed change of fortune : nay, there is reason 
to believe that even she was unacquainted with the 
measures which had been carried in council. Besides 
which it seems, as stated by Mr. Nichols, in his Lei- 
cestershire, and indeed confirmed by concurrent testi- 
mony, that Lady Jane was, to the moment of open 
avowal, if not wholly, yet in a great measure, ignorant 
of all the transactions which had prepared her way to 
the throne : for it is recorded that it was with equal 
grief and surprise she received intelligence of them. It 



224 LADY JANE GREY, 

is well and elegantly said, that her heart, full of passion 
for literature and the elegant arts, and of tenderness 
towards her husband, who was deserving of her affec- 
tion, had never opened itself to the flattering allurements 
of ambition ; and the information of her advancement 
to the throne was by no means agreeable to her. 

The real fact, indeed, seems to be, that on the death 
of the king, the Duke of Northumberland went to 
Sion House, accompanied by the Duke of Suffolk, the 
Earl of Pembroke, and others of the nobility, and ap- 
proached the Lady Jane with all the respect usually 
paid to the sovereign. 

At this first interview she even refused to accept of 
the crown ; pleaded the preferable right of her cousins 
Mary and Elizabeth, and expressed the strongest de- 
sire to remain in that rank of society in which she was 
born, rather than encounter the consequences attendant 
on an enterprise so dangerous, and even criminal. But 
she had been educated in strict obedience, so that the 
entreaties of her father, added to those of Northumber- 
land, were as commands : it is said, indeed, that these 
entreaties had greater force with her than any reasons 
that were offered ; nor would she perhaps have even 
yielded to them, had the tempters not assailed her in 
another way, gaining over to their cause the Lord 
Guildford Dudley; who, dazzled by so brilliant a 
destiny, was prevailed on to add the accents of love to 
the wiles of ambition — beyond this, female fortitude 



AXD ITER TIMES 285 

could not he expected to go, and she at length relin- 
quished her own judgment, suhmitting to the will of 
her relatives and friends. 

We have also seen it more particularly stated, by 
an author nearly cotemporary, that on this interesting 
interview the Duke of Suffolk, with much solemnity, 
explained to her the disposition which the deceased 
monarch had made of the crown in her favour, the 
clear sense which the privy council had of her right, 
and the consent of the magistrates and citizens of Lon- 
don. All this he enforced most strongly ; and it was 
no sooner done than both he and Northumberland fell 
upon their knees, and paid their duty to her as Queen 
of England. The whole scene produced in Lady Jane 
the greatest astonishment; she soon, however, reco- 
vered her self-possession, and is said to have answered, 
not only to the following tenor, but as nearly as possible 
in the following words. She first declared, that " the 
laws of the kingdom, and natural right, standing for 
the king's sisters, she would beware of burthening her 
weak conscience with a yoke which did belong to them ; 
that she understood the infamy of those who had per- 
mitted the violation of right to gain a sceptre; and 
that it was to mock God and deride justice to scruple 
at the stealing of a shilling, and not at the usurpation 
of a crown. Besides, 11 she added, " I am not so young, 
nor so little read in the guiles of fortune, to suffer my- 
self to be taken by them. If she enrich any, it is but 

Q 



226 LADY JANE GREY, 

to make them the subject of her spoil ; if she raise 
others, it is but to pleasure herself with their ruins ; 
what she adorned but yesterday, is to-day her pastime : 
and if I now permit her to adorn and crown me, I 
must to-morrow suffer her to crush and tear me to 
pieces. Nay, with what crown does she present me ? 
a crown which hath been violently and shamefully 
wrested from Katharine of Arragon, made more un- 
fortunate by the punishment of Anne Boleyn, and 
others that wore it after her ; and why then would you 
have me add my blood to theirs, and be the third vic- 
tim from whom this fatal crown may be ravished, with 
the head that wears it ? But even in case that it should 
not prove fatal unto me, and that all its venom were 
consumed, if fortune should give me warranties of her 
constancy, should I be well advised to take upon me 
these thorns, which would not fail to torment me, 
though I were assured not to be strangled with it? 
My liberty is better than the chain you offer me, with 
what precious stones soever it be adorned, or of what 
gold soever framed. I will not exchange my peace for 
honourable and precious jealousies, for magnificent and 
glorious fetters : and if you love me sincerely and in 
good earnest, you will rather wish me a secure and 
quiet fortune though mean, than an exalted condition 
exposed to the wind, and followed by some dismal 
feJL" 

The whole of this scene, as painted by the poet, is 



AND HER TIMES. 227 

so admirable, though not absolutely correct as matter 
of history, that apology for its insertion must be totally 
unnecessary. 

Nor. Hail, sacred princess ! sprung from ancient kings, 
Our England's dearest hope, undoubted offspring 
Of York and Lancaster's united line, 
Hail, royal Jane ! behold we bend our knees, 
The pledge of homage and thy land's obedience ; 
With humblest duty thus we kneel, and own thee 
Our liege, our sov'reign lady, and our queen. 

Lady J. Oh rise ! 
My father, rise ! 
And you my father too ! 
Rise all, nor cover me with this confusion. 
What means this mock, this masking show of greatness ? 
Why do ye hang these pageant glories on me, 
And dress me up in honours not my own ?. 

Nor. The daughters of our late great master Henry 
Stand both by law excluded from succession. 
To make all firm, 

And fix a power unquestion'd in your hand, 
Edward by will bequeathed his crown to you, 
And the concurring lords in council met 
Have ratify 'd the gift. 

Lady J. Are crowns and empire 
Trifles of such light moment to be left 
Like some rich toy, 

The pledge of parting friends ? Can kings do thus, 
And give away a people for a legacy ? 

Nor. Forgive me, princely lady, if my wonder 
Seizes each sense, each faculty of mind, 
To see the utmost wish the great can form, 
A crown, thus coldly met ; a crown which, slighted 
And left in scorn by you, shall soon be sought, 
And find a joyful wearer, one perhaps 
Of blood unkindred to your royal house, 
And fix its glories in another line. 



228 LADY JANE GREY, 

Lady J. Where art thou now, thou partner of my cares ? 

Guil. See, by thy side thy faithful Guildford stands, 
Prepared to keep distress and danger from thee, 
To wear thy sacred cause upon his sword, 
And war against the world in thy defence. 

Nor. Oh! 
Methinks I see you seated on the throne, 
Assembled senates wait with awful dread 
To firm your high commands and make 'em fate. 

Lady J. You turn to view the painted side of royalty, 
And cover all the cares that lurk beneath. 
Is it to be a queen to sit aloft 
In solemn dull uncomfortable state, 
The flatter'd idol of a servile court ? 
Is it to draw a pompous train along, 
A pageant for the wond'ring crowd to gaze at ? 
Alas, Northumberland ! — my father ! — is it not 
To live a life of care, and when I die 
Have more to answer for before my Judge 
Than any of my subjects ? 

Suf. Behold, we stand upon the brink of ruin, 
And only thou canst save us. Persecution, 
The fiend of Rome and hell, prepares her tortures ; 
See where she comes in Mary's priestly train ! 
Still wo't thou doubt, till thou behold her stalk 
Red with the blood of martyrs, and wide wasting 
O'er England's bosom ? 

Guil. Amidst that ruin 
Think thou behold'st thy Guildford's head laid low, 
Bloody and pale 

Lady J. Oh ! spare the dreadful image ! 

Guil. Oh ! would the misery be bounded there, 
My life were little ; but the rage of Rome 
Demands whole hecatombs, a land of victims. 
Mary shall by her kindred Spain be taught 
To bend our necks beneath a brazen yoke, 
And rule o'er wretches with an iron sceptre. 

Lady J. Avert that judgment, heaven ! 



AND II KR TIMES. 22J 



Whatc'er thy providence allots for me, 
In mercy spare my country. 

Qu.il. Oh, my queen ! 
Does not thy great, thy generous heart relent 
To think this land, for liberty so famed, 
Shall have her towery front at once laid low, 
And robb'd of all its glory ? 

Lady J. Yes, my loved lord, my soul is moved like thine 
At every danger which invades our England ; 
My cold heart kindles at the great occasion, 
And could be more than man in her defence : 
But where is my commission to redress ? 
Or whence my power to save? Can Edward's will, 
Or twenty met in council, make a queen ? 
Can you, my lords, give me the power to canvass 
A doubtful title with king Henry's daughters ? 
Where are the reverend sages of the law 
To guide me with their wisdoms, and point out 
The paths which right and justice bid me tread ? 

Nor. The judges all attend, and will at leisure 
Resolve you every scruple. 

Lady J. They expound ; 
But where are those, my lord, that make the law ? 
Where are the ancient honours of the realm, 
The nobles with the mitred fathers joined ? 
The wealthy commons solemnly assembled ? 
Where is that voice of a consenting people 
To pledge the universal faith with mine, 
And call me justly queen ? 

Guil. Our foes, already 
High in their hopes, devote us all to death : 
Haste then and save us, while 'tis given to save 
Your country, your religion. 

Nor. Save your friends ! 

Suf. Your father! 

Duch. Mother! 

Guil. Husband! 

Lady J. Take me, crown mc, 



230 LADY JANE GREY, 

Invest me with this royal wretchedness; 
Let me not know one happy minute more ; 
Let all my sleepless nights be spent in care, 
My days be vex'd with tumults and alarms ; 
If only I can save you, if my fate 
Has mark'd me out to be the public victim, 
I take the lot with joy. Yes, I will die 
For that eternal truth my faith is fix'd on, 
And that dear native land which gave me birth. 

Guil. Wake every tuneful instrument to tell it, 
And let the trumpet's sprightly note proclaim 
My Jane is England's queen ! 
Thy name shall echo through the rescued isle, 
And reach applauding heaven ! 

Lady J. Oh Guildford ! what do we give up for glory ? 
For glory ! that 's a toy I would not purchase, 
An idle empty bubble : but for England ! 
What must we lose for that ! Since then my fate 
Has forced this hard exchange upon my will, 
Let gracious heaven allow me one request : 
For that blest peace in which I once did dwell, 
All that I ask is, though my fortune frown, 
And bury me beneath this fatal crown, 
Let that one good be added to my doom, 
To save this land from tyranny and Rome. 

That Lady Jane was by no means ambitious of her 
royal dignity is confirmed by Dr. Fuller, who says, 
that when proclaimed Queen of England, she lifted not 
up the least finger to put the diadem upon herself; 
but was only contented to sit still, whilst others en- 
deavoured to crown her; or rather, was so far from 
biting at the bait of sovereignty, that unwillingly she 
opened her mouth to receive it. Much too, it must 
be supposed, was owing to the influence of her hus- 



AXI) HER TIMES. 231 

band, yet a bridegroom, and the honeymoon scarcely 
over; and it is a curious fact, corroborative of this, 
that the young Lord Guildford, in right of his mar- 
riage, actually assumed the title of " King." This 
appears from a note * " that the king (Queen Jane's 
husband) had written to the regent of the Lowe Coun- 
tries, signifying to her Mr. Chamberlayne's revocation, 
(i e. Sir Thomas Chamberlayne's) and desiring her, 
in all his affayres, to give audience and full credit to 
Sir Philip Hoby." 

The friends of Mary, about the court, and even in 
the confidence of Northumberland and Suffolk, did 
not permit her to remain long ignorant of those pro- 
ceedings. Mary herself, during part of Edward's 
illness, was at Hunsdon in Hertfordshire ; but, having 
got intelligence of the new arrangement of the succes- 
sion, she paid no attention to the invitation which was 
sent to her to come to court to see her expiring bro- 
ther, being pretty well convinced that the invitation 
was nothing more than a trick on the part of the con- 
spirators to get possession of her person for state pur- 
poses. Accordingly she set off, two days before the 
royal demise, for Kenninghall in Norfolk ; from whence 
she proceeded to Framlingham Castle, in the vicinity 
of the coast, intending to escape by sea, if necessary : 
and her extreme haste and anxiety may be judged 
* Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. 523, p. 13. 



~32 LADY JANE GREY, 

from the fact, that upon this flight, in one day, she rode 
forty miles. 

The intelligence of Edward's death did not reach 
her until the 8th ; but it did not find her inclined to 
idleness in the assertion of her rights ; for on that day, 
as appears by an original letter* she wrote to Sir 
George Somersall and others, announcing the import- 
ant news, and commanding them to repair to her, as 
their queen, at the manor of Kenninghall; whither she 
meant to return from Framlingham, provided she 
found the nobility, gentry, and the people at large, 
willing to embrace her cause. 

In the mean time Lady Jane's friends were not idle; 
though it is evident, as several historians assert, that 
they were so little prepared for the event, so very soon 
after the king's consent to the new settlement, that 
they wished to keep his death secret for some days : a 
fact which completely does away any suspicion of foul 
play, as has been more than once charged upon North- 
umberland ; added to which, we may state, that it was 
not until the 8th of July that Jane made any open 
exercise of the regal power, which she then did by the 
appointment of the Lord Clinton as constable of the 
Tower. Nor was it until four days after the royal 
demise, that the friends of the youthful queen ventured 
to proclaim her; in the cabinet, however, they were 
* Lansdown Coll. No. 1236, 19. 



AND 11 Ell TIMES. 233 

busily occupied ; and as the hopes of Mary and of her 
friends rested much upon the protection and even as- 
sistance of the Emperor Charles V. it may be both im- 
portant and interesting to record the proceedings of the 
partizans of Lady Jane in that quarter, which we can 
do by a copy of the first despatch to the English am- 
bassadors at the imperial court, written on the 8th of 
July *, to the following purport : 

" After our verie hartye comendacones wee muste 
neede be sorye to write that which comethe bothe from 
us and soothe to you with such extreame sorowe as the 
lyke never passid under thes our hands, but suche is 
the almyghty will of God in all hys creatures, that his 
order in tyme may not be by us resysted. In one 
worde, wee muste telle you a great heape of infelycitye; 
God hath called out of this world our sovereigne lorde 
the 6 l of this month towards nyghte, whose manere of 
deathe was suche towards God as assurethe us that his 
soule is in place of eternall joye. The desease whearof 
he dyed was off the putrefactyon of the lunges, beyng 
utterly uncurable. Of this evill, for the importaunce 
wee advertise you, knowing it to have moste comforte 
to have byne therof ignorante. And the same yee may 
take tyme to declare to the emperor as from us, which 
knowing assuredly that his majesty will sorowe and 
condole with us for the departure and loss of a prince 
* Brit. Mus. Cotton. Galba. B. xii. 249. 



234 LADY JANE GREY, 

of that excellence, and so deare a brother and frende, 
not doubtinge but his majestie will have in remem- 
brance the auntiente amytie that hath byne alwayes 
betwixte their auncestores, for consyderacyon whearof 
yee shall assure him that ther shall not bee any thinge 
lackinge on our pte, but alwayes redynes to observe 
and maintayne the same. And so we wishe to us all 
the comforte of Gods Spirite in all adversetyes. The 
Counselle to Sir Phillipe Hobby ." 

On the 9th of July, Mary wrote to the council, won- 
dering that in so long a time after her brother's death, 
no information had been sent to her, especially since 
she was by all law and right to succeed him ; a mea- 
sure of good policy, but of which, at present, no notice 
was taken : the council, or at least Lady Jane's friends 
in it, being busily engaged ; for it was not until the 9th 
that all the superior officers of the guard, &c. then at 
Greenwich, took the oaths of allegiance to the new 
queen. On the same day Ridley, then Bishop of Lon- 
don, preached a sermon at Paul's Cross, in which he 
expatiated at considerable length on the danger which 
would have resulted to the nation and to the protestant 
religion, had Mary been allowed to succeed to the 
throne. 

Ridley was indeed active in the cause — more active 
than Cranmer ; yet the latter was certainly a member 
of Queen Jane's council, though he had opposed the 



AND HER TIMES. 335 

new settlement — perhaps out of affection towards 
Elizabeth, and regard for his own character and con- 
sistence with respect to Katharine's divorce, and Eliza- 
beth's legitimacy, now called in question. 

On the 10th of July, in the morning, Mary's letters 
came to the council, claiming the crown and their al- 
legiance, a circumstance which seems to have hastened 
the measures of Lady Jane's friends ; for it was not 
until that day that she openly took upon herself the 
royal state and government of the kingdom. 

It was then usual for the kings of England, after 
their accession, to pass the first days of their reign in 
the Tower; and thither it was determined that the 
new sovereign should proceed from Sion House, where 
she still remained. On their way, however, the caval- 
cade made some stay at Durham House, and from 
thence departed for that fortress, not through the city, 
but by water. Between four and five o'clock in the 
afternoon of that day she made her entry into the 
Tower, accompanied by a numerous cavalcade of the 
nobility of both sexes. It has already been noticed as 
an extraordinary fact, that her mother, the Duchess of 
Suffolk, should have given up a prior claim to the 
crown in favour of a daughter ; but it was now even 
more remarkable that a woman of her pride, and a 
mother of her severity, should actually have con- 
descended, with the assistance of several other ladies 
of high rank, to bear up that daughter's train. 



236 LADY JANE GREY, 

The salutes of ordnance from the Tower batteries, 
on this occasion, are described as greater than ever 
had been heard before. 

Scarcely had the youthful queen assumed her state 
in the Tower, when a proclamation was issued; and 
by six o^clock two heralds, with a trumpet, announced 
the same to the people, claiming their allegiance ; first 
in Cheapside, and afterwards in Fleet-street. 

This proclamation is highly curious*, whether as 
referring to Lady Jane, or as matter of history, and 
commenced with the following exordium, which fully 
settles the dates of the foregoing events as related, 

" Jane, by the grace of God, Queen of Englande, 
Fraunce, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith and of the 
Church of England, and also of Ireland, under Christ 
on earth the supreme head. To all our loving, faith- 
full, and obedients, and to every of them, greeting. 
Wherefas] our most dear cousin Edward the Sixth, 
late King of England, Fraunce, and Ireland, De- 
fender of the Faith, and on earth the supreme head 
under Christ of the Church of England and Ireland, 
by his letters patents, signed with his own hand, and 
sealed with his great seal of England, bearing date the 
21st day of June, in the 7th year of his reigne, in the 
presence of the most part of his nobles, his counsellors, 
judges, and divers other grave and sage personages, 
* Brit. Mus. Lansdown, 198. 



AND Hl'.U TIMES. 



5237 



for the profit and surity of the whole realmc thereto 
assenting, and subscribing their names to the same, 
hath by the same his letters patents resited that," &c. 

This document then notices the various state reasons 
for the maintenance of order, and goes on to announce, 
that " * For as much as the imperiall crowne of this 
realme, by an acte made in the xxxv yeare off the 
reigne off the late kinge of worthy memory, Kinge 
Henrye the VIII. our progenitor and great uncle, for 
lacke off issue off his bodye lawfully begott, and for 
lacke off issue off the bodye off our sayd late cosyn 
Kinge Edwarde the VI. h by the same acte limited and 
appoynted to remayne to the Lady Marye, by the 
name of the Lady Marye, his eldest daughter, and to 
the heires of her body lawfully begott, and for the de- 
faulte of suche issue the remander therof to the Ladye 
Elisabeth, by the name of the Ladye Elisabeth, his 
second daughter, and to the heires of her body law- 
fully begotten, with suche condicions as should be limited 
and appointed by the sayd late kinge of worthy me- 
mory, Kinge Henry the Eight, our progenitour and 
great uncle, by his letters patents under the greate seale, 
or by his last wille in writinge, signed with his hand. 
And, forasmuch as the sayed limitacion of the imperiall 
crowne of this realme, being limited as is aforesayed to 
the sayed Lady Mary and Lady Elisabeth being ille- 
* Brit. Mus. Cotton. Dul. F. vi. 194.. 



238 LADY JANE GREY, 

gitimate, and not lawfully begotten, for that the mar- 
riage had betweene the sayd late kinge, Kinge Henry 
the VIII., our progenitour and great uncle, and the 
Lady Katherine, mother to the sayd Lady Mary ; and 
also the marriage had betweene the sayd late kinge, 
Kinge Henry VIII., our progenitour and great uncle, 
and the Lady Anna, mother to the sayd Lady Elisa- 
beth, were clearly and lawfully undone by sentences of 
devorces, according to the word of God, and the eccle- 
siastical lawes, and which sayd severall devorcements 
haue been severally ratified and confirmed by authority 
off parliament, and especially in the xxxiii yeare of 
the reigne off Kinge Henry the VIII., our progenitour 
and great uncle, remaininge in force, strength, and 
effect, wherby as well the sayd Lady Mary, as also the 
sayd Lady Elisabeth, to all intents and purposes, are, 
and been thearby disabled to aske, claime, or chalenge 
the said imperiall crowne, or any other off the honours, 
castels, manoures, lordshipps, lands, tenements, or 
other heridetaments, as heire or heires to our sayd late 
cosin Kinge Edwarde the VI., or as heire or heires to 
any other person or psons whosoever, as well for the 
cause before rehearsed, as also for that the sayd 
Lady Mary and Elisabeth were unto our sayd late 
cosin but of the halfe bloud, and therfore by the aun- 
cient lawes, statutes, and customes of this realmc be 
not inheritable unto our sayd late cosin, although they 
had been borne in lawefull matrimony, as indeede they 



AND HER TIMES. 239 

were not, as by the sayd sentences of devorce, and the 
sayd statute off the xxviii yeare off' the reigne off our 
Kinge Henrie the VIII. our sayd progenitoure and 
great uncle, plainly appereth ; and forasmuche also as 
it is to be thought, or at the least muste be doubted 
that iff the sayd Lady Mary or Lady Elisabeth 
shoude herafter haue and injoye the sayd imperiall 
crown of this realme, and shoulde happe to marry with 
any strainger borne out off this realme, that the sayed 
strainger havinge the government and the imperiall 
crowne in his hands would adhere and practise, not 
only to bringe this noble free realme into the tyrannic 
and servitude of the Bishopp off Rome, but also to 
haue the lawyes and customes of his or their owne 
natiue countrye or countryes, to be practised and put 
in use within this realme*, rather than the lawes, sta- 
tutes, and customes here of long time used, wherupon 
the title of inheritance of all and singular the subjects 
of this realme do depend, to the peril of conscience, 
and the utter subversion of the common weele of this 
realme. Wherupon our said late dere cosin, weighing 
and considering with himself what waies and meanes 
were most convenient to be had for the stay of the said 
succession in the said imperial crowne, if it should 
please God to call our said late cosin out of this transi- 

* The first of this proclamation is preserved as spelt in the 
original; the remainder is copied from No. 198, of the Lans- 
clown MSS. in the British Museum. 



£40 LADY JANE GREY, 

tory life, having no issue of his body, and calling to 
his remembrance that we and the Lady Katherine and 
the Lady Marie, our sisters, being the daughters of 
the Lady Fraunces, our natural mother, and then and 
yet wife to our natural and most loving father, Henrie 
Duke of Suffolk, and the Lady Margaret, daughter of 
the Lady Elienore then decsd. sister to the said Lady 
Fraunces, and the late wife of our cosin Henrie, Erie 
of Cumberland, were very nigh of his grace's bloud, 
of the part of his father's side, our said progenitoure 
and great uncle, and being naturallie born here within 
the realme, and for the very good opinion our said late 
cosin had of our, and our said sisters and cosin Mar- 
garet's good education, did therfore upon good de- 
liberation and advise hearein had and taken, by his 
said letters patents declare, order, assign, limit, and 
appoint, that if it should fortune himself, our said late 
cosin King Edward the 6th to deceese, having no issue 
of his body lawfullie bigotten, that then the said im- 
periall crowne of England and Ireland, and the confines 
of the same, and his title to the crowne of the realme 
of Fraunce, and all and singular honours, castles, pre- 
rogatives, priviledges, preleminaries, authorities, juris- 
dictions, dominions, possessions, and hereditaments, to 
our said late cosin, King Edward the 6th, or to the 
said imperiall crowne belonging, or in any wise apper- 
taining, should, for lack of such issue of his body re- 
main, come and be unto the eldest sonne of the body of 



AND HEK TIMES. 



.^41 



the said Lady Fraimces lawfullie begotten, and so from 
sonne to sonne, as he should be of auncientye in birth, 
of the body of the said Lady Fraunces lawfully be- 
gotten, being born into the world in our said late 
cosin's lifetime, and to the heires males of the body of 
every such sonne lawfullie begotten : and for default 
of such sonne borne into the world in his lifetime, of 
the body of the said Lady Fraunces, lawfullie be- 
gotten, and for lack of heires males of every such sonne 
lawfullie begotten, that then the said imperiall crowne, 
and all and singular other the premisses should remain, 
come, and be to us, by the name of the Lady Jane, 
eldest daughter of the said Lady Fraunces, and to the 
heires male of our body lawfully begotten, that then 
the said imperial crowne, and all other the premisses, 
should remaine, come, and be to the said Lady Ka- 
therine, our said second sister, and to the heires males 
of the body of the said Lady Katherine lawfully be- 
gotten, with divers other remainders, as by the same 
letters patents more plainly at large it may and doth 
appear. Sithens the making of which letters patents, 
that is to say, on Thursday, which was the sixt day of 
this instant month of July, it hath pleased God to call 
to his infinite mercy our said most dere and entirely 
beloved cosin Edward the 6th, whose soul God pardon, 
and forasmuch as he is now deceased, having no heires 
of his body begotten, and that also there remaineth at 
this present time no heires lawfully begotten of the 



242 LADY JANE GREY, 

body of our said progeiiitour and great uncle, King 
Henrie theight, and forasmuch also as the said Lady 
Fraunces, our said mother, had no issue male begotten 
of her body, and born into the world in the lifetime 
of our said cosin King Edward the Sixth, so as the said 
imperiall crowne, and other the premisses to the same 
belonging, or in anywise appertaining, now be, and 
remaine to us in our actual and royal possession, by 
auctority of the said letters patents : Wee do therefore, 
by these presents, signify unto all our most loving, 
faithfull, and obedient subjects, that like as we for our 
part shall, by God's grace, shew ourselves a most 
gracious and benigne soveraigne queene, and lady 
to all our good subjects, in all their just and law- 
full sutes and causes, and to the uttermost of our power 
shall preserve and maintaine Goddes most holy word, 
christian polity, and the good lawes, customs, and 
Unties of these our realms and dominions ; so we mis- 
trust not, but they and every of them, will again, for 
their partes, at all times and in all cases, shew them- 
selves unto us their natural liege queene and ladv, 
most faithfull, loving, and obedient subjects, according 
to their bounden duties and allegiaunces, whereby they 
shall please God, and do the thing that shall tend to 
their own preservations and sureties : willing and com- 
manding all men of all estates, degrees, and conditions 
to see our peace and accord kept, and to be obedient 
to our lawes, as they tender our favour, and will an- 



AND HER TIMES. 



243 



swer for the contrary at their extreme perils. In wit- 
ness wherof we have caused these our letters to be 
made patents. Witness ourself at our Towre of Lon- 
don, this tenth day of Julie, in the first yere of our 
reign e. 

" God saue the Queene." 

If the objects of Jane^ friends had merely been the 
support of the reformed religion, the probability of 
success, as to setting Mary aside, would have been 
much greater, if they had offered the crown to Eliza- 
beth, than to their own nearer relative. 

But if the Duchess of Suffolk had then borne a 
son, it is also more than probable that Northumberland 
would never have thought of aggrandizing that line, 
except indeed that he could thus have matched a 
daughter into the Grey family. At all events, it is 
evident, that the charge of illegitimacy against Mary 
and Elizabeth came with a very ill grace from the par- 
tizans of the Lady Jane ; for, as Walpole fairly ob- 
serves, Charles Brandon, father of the Duchess of Suf- 
folk, had married one woman while contracted to an- 
other, but was divorced to fulfil his promise ; and the 
repudiated wife was living when he married Mary 
Queen of France, by whom he had the Duchess. But 
even if the first marriage of Brandon should be legally 
deemed null, still no such plea could be made in fa- 
vour of his daughter the Duchess Frances herself; for 



244 LADY JANE GREY, 

Henry, Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane, 
was actually married to the sister of the Earl of Arun- 
del, whom he divorced, without the least grounds, to 
make room for his] marriage with the Lady Frances*. 
But after all, as the civilians of that day did not im- 
pugn the marriage, we must consider that the previous 
divorce was consonant both to canon and to statute 
law. 

We find it recorded in Strype that there seemed no 
opposition nor murmuring against this proclamation, 
when thus made, except that a young man, a vintner's 
apprentice, had the boldness to speak some few words 
in favour of the Lady Mary's true right and title, for 
which he was immediately taken up, and the next day, 
at eight o'clock in the morning, set on the pillory, and 
had both his ears cut off. During this punishment an 
herald was present and a trumpet blowing ; and when 
it was over, the offender was taken down, and recom- 
mitted to the Compter prison. 

Hollinshed, speaking of this event, thinks it not be- 
neath the dignity of history to record that the culprit's 
name was Gilbert Pot, drawer to Ninioil Sanders, 

* We have already recorded that the legitimacy of Brandon's 
marriage was substantiated in one of Elizabeth's parliaments ; 
but the point as to Dorset has never been positively cleared up. 
It is not now of any great consequence, as the heirs of Henry's 
eldest sister Margaret are too numerous for any chance of his 
sister Mary's heirs claiming the throne of England. Mary's claims 
are now vested in the present Marchioness of Buckingham. 



AN J) UK ft TIMES. 245 

vintner, dwelling at St. John's Head, within Ludgate. 
He adds, that he was accused by his said master, and 
then says, that about five o'clock of the same day, in 
the afternoon, Ninion Sanders, and John Owen, a 
gunner, coming from the Tower by water in a wherry, 
and shooting London-bridge, towards the Blackfriars, 
were drowned at St. Mary Locke, and the wherrymen 
saved by their oars. 

But we must not omit what is said by Bishop God- 
win, who, in his history of this period, speaks with 
great apparent candour, and seems worthy of credit. 
He describes Lady Jane as about sixteen, not un- 
handsome, learned beyond imagination, of a most acute 
wit, and for prudence, even at that age, superior to her 
sex ; extremely pious ; devoted to the reformed faith ; 
and so far from aspiring to the honour conferred on 
her, that she took the regalia with tears ; so that it 
plainly appeared she was compelled to ascend the 
throne by the importunities of her parents and friends, 
directly contrary to her own inclinations. But, he adds, 
that when she passed through the city to the Tower, 
she was not saluted with any acclamations, though vast 
crowds flocked about her, drawn rather, it seemed, to 
gratify their curiosity than to express their joy; and 
this, he says, was the first omen which encouraged 
Mary's friends to the resolution of making some at- 
tempt in her behalf, when a proper occasion should 
offer. For, though they were awed from any imme- 



246 LADY JANE GREY, 

diate motion by the presence of the Duke of North- 
umberland, whom he designates a man of the sharpest 
discernment and deepest politics, yet they hoped, if 
they could by any means hereafter get him to a di- 
stance, they might then be able to effect something 
favourable. 

When Queen Jane arrived at the Tower, all the 
lords of the council, and other state officers, were or- 
dered to attend her in the fortress ; a measure of double 
policy — not only showing to the people the assent of 
the higher classes, but also securing the latter in some 
measure as prisoners, leaving them no apparent alter- 
native but to obey the will of Northumberland *. 

On the following day, the 11th of July, the lords of 
the council wrote to the commissioners, then in Flan- 
ders negotiating the treaty of peace, a copy of which 
despatch is in the British Museum, and is highly illus- 
trative of the politics of this short and unhappy usurpa- 
tion ; for such it certainly was, however possible that it 
might have finally been sanctioned by the nation as to the 
exclusion of Mary, in regard to the protestant religion. 

* Though the new queen had, according to ancient custom, 
and perhaps from present policy, taken up her abode in the 
Tower ; yet she began, even now, to prepare for a change of re- 
sidence, appointing Sir Ambrose Dudley, K. G., to be keeper of 
her palace at Westminster ; to whom there is an order extant, 
of this day's date, for twenty yards of velvet, twenty-five ells of 
Holland cloth, and thirty and three-quarters ells of coarser cloth : 
a degree of exactness which marks the simple, nay, penurious, 
manners of the times. 



AND HER TIMES. 247 

But it must not be forgotten, that Elizabeth was a 
Protestant, though her heir apparent, Mary of Scot- 
land, was a Catholic. But even in default of Mary of 
Scotland, there was another and a prior claim to that 
of Lady Jane, the claim of Margaret, Countess of 
Lennox, daughter of Margaret, eldest sister of Henry 
VIII., together with her issue. 

Had not those prior and protestant claims existed, 
the nation might have had more reason to regret the 
fatal issue of the ambitious policy of Suffolk and 
North umberland. 

The despatch alluded to says, " After our harty 
commendacions, ye shall learne by this bearere, Mr. 
Shelley e, and by suche letters as ye shall receave from 
the queenes highnes, our soveraigne ladye Queene 
Janne, which coppy of suche letteres ar hir, ye ar 
sendythe to the emperoure, what ys the cause of thys 
message nowe sent to you, and what yt is that ys now 
to be done by you theare ; first, the signify cacion of our 
soverayne lord's death; next, the possession of the 
queene's highnes in the crowne of thys realm ; thirdlie, 
the placynge of you Sir Phillip Hobbye, knight, as 
ambassadoure theare resident ; fourthlie and laste, the 
offer for your remayning theare to proceed yn the 
treatie of the peace, yff it shall soe lyke the emperoure. 
Furthermore, ye shall understand that although the 
Lady Marye hathe byne written unto from us to re- 
mayne quiete, yet neverthelesse wee see hir not so 



248 LADY JAKE GREY, 

waye the matter that yff she myghte she wuld di- 
sturbe the state of this reelme, havinge thereunto as 
yet no maner apparaunt of helpe or comforte but onlie 
the connizaunce of a fewe lordes and base people : all 
other the nobyllytye and gentylmen remaynynge in 
theyr dutyes to our soveraigne ladye Queene Jane. 
And yet, nevertheless, because the condyssiones of the 
basser soarte of people is understood to be unruly yff 
they be not governyd and kept in ordere, thearfore for 
the meetyng with all events, the Duke of Northum- 
berlande's grace, accompanyed with the Lorde Marquis 
of Northampton, proceedeth with a convenient power 
into the partyes of Norfolke, to keepe thos countryes 
in stay and obedyence, and because the emperors am- 
bassadores heare remaynynge shall on this mattere of 
the pollecie not intermedle, as it is very lykly they will 
and doe dyspose themselves, the Lord Cobham and 
Sir John Masone repairethe to the same ambassadores, 
to give them notice of the Ladye Maryes proceedynge 
againste the state of this realme, and to put them in 
remembrance of the nature of theyre office, which is 
notte to medle in theis causes of pollecie, nether directly 
nor indirectly, and soe to charge them to use themselves 
as they give noe occasione of unkyndnes to be mynestred 
unto them, whereass wee wold be moste sorrye for the 
amitie, which one our parte, wee meane to conserve 
and maintaine. And for that grace the ambassadores 
her shall advertise thether what is said to them. Ye 



AND HER TIMES. 249 

shal therefore declare to the Emperore bothe the cause 
of this message to his ambassadores, and what the verie 
message is, usynge it in suche soarte as thearby as the 
amy tie may beste bee preserved. The xi th of July, 
1553. The Counselle to the Comissioneres." 

This official document was followed up, on the en- 
suing day, by royal instructions to the commissioners, 
as letters of credence, which also deserve notice here ; 
and to which we prefix a fac-simile of her sign manual. 




" Trusty and well beloved, — Wee greete you well. 
It hath so pleased God of his providence, by the call- 
inge of our most deare cossine, of famos memory > Kinge 
Edward the VI th , out of this life, to our very natural 
sorrowe, that we be bothe by our sM cossenes lawfull 
determination in his lifetime, with the assente of the 
nobillytye and state of thys our realme, and also as hys 
lawfulle heir and successore in the whole blode royelle, 
possessed of this our realme of England and Ireland. 
Wherfore wee have presently sente to our goode bro- 
there the emperore this present bearrer hearoff, our 
trusty servant Mr. Richard Shelley, with lettres of 
recommendation and credence from us, therby signify- 
inge unto hym as well the sorowfulle dcathc of our sM 



250 LADY JANE GREY, 

cossene the king, as also our successyone in the crowne 
of this realme, motioninge unto our good brother the 
continuance in suche amitie and league as our s'd cos- 
sene and predecessore had with him ; for which purpos 
wee have furthermore signified by our sayd letteres, not 
only our ordres that you, Sir Phillipe Hobby, shal 
theare remayne and reste with our s'd good brother 
the emperor, as oure ambassadore residente, prayynge 
him to give you credite appertaynyne to suche an office, 
but also that for the lyke zelle and desire wee have to 
the wealle of Christendome, as our s^d cossene Kinge 
Edward hadd, wherin we doe count to follow his steppes, 
wee have given order that ye, the wholl number of our 
ambassador es shal theare remayne to contynewe to dwell 
in the former comyssyon which ye had from oure aun- 
cestore the kinge, yff it shall pleyse our s'd good bro- 
ther, the coppy of which our lettres wee send to you 
hearwith, for your more ample understandynge of our 
determinacion, which considered and pondered, wee 
wolde yee made y e moste speedy coursse to our sM good 
brother, and in order to execute the matteres contayned 
in the sayd letteres of y re parte to be declared — firste, 
the signifycacon of the deathe of our sayd auncestore 
and cossene the kinge, whearofF as wee by nature 
muste take greate griefFe, soe wee doubte not but our 
sayd good brother will for frendshyppe and greate 
amytie sorrowe and condole with us ; next, that you, 
Sir Phillipe Hobby, have cxpresse ordere thear to re- 



AND HER TIMES. 251 

side and attend uppon our good brother as our myne- 
ster for the contynuance and the entertaynemente of 
the intelygence and nrme amytie heretofore had and 
concluded betwixte our sayd auncestore and cossene 
the kinge and our sayd good brother, the maintenaunce 
whearoff wee with the assente of our nobillitye and 
counselle doe muche dessire, and for our pte will not 
faile but confirme and maintaine the same. In thirde, 
yee shall shewe to our sayd good brother, that as wee 
doe by God's good providence succeede to our sayd 
auncestore and cossene King Edwarde the VI th in this 
our crowne and dominiones, so do wee also fynde in 
our harte and mynde the very e dissente and inheritaunce 
of his most Chrystyane devotyone and affectyon to 
the comonwealle of Chrystendome, which movethe us, 
with the advice of our nobyllitye and counselle, to offere 
to our sayd good brothere the ministry and office of 
you cur ambassadores, to remayne theare and pceed in 
the former comyssyon for the consylyacon of some good 
peace betwixte our s'd good brothere and the Frenche 
king, wherin wee reffere our good purpos and meaninge 
to the mynde and contentacon of our s'd good brothere. 
This donne, whatsoever our good brother shall aun- 
swere, ye maye thearunto replye as ye thynke expe- 
diente, tendinge to the contynuance of our auncestores' 
amytie, with an addition that yee forthwithe reporte 
unto us. For the reste of the proceeding hearofT, ye 



252 LADY JANE GREY, 

shal understand by the bearer, to whom we wold ye 
shold give credit. Given undere our signate, at our 
Towere of London, xij th of July, 1553," 

Such was the foreign state policy of the new reign ; 
but the general tenor of the despatch manifests con- 
siderable doubt as existing in Northumberland's mind 
in regard to the emperor's future proceedings. At 
home too he must have felt great doubt and mistrust ; 
he was very active, however, not only in the council 
but in the closet, and exerted himself to gain over the 
distant nobility to his fair daughter's cause. A speci- 
men of this may be found in the following copy of the 
rough draft of an address, in his own hand-writing, 
which we give, as nearly in a fac-simile manner as pos- 
sible, with all its interlineations and erasures, marking 
thereby more strongly the actual state of feeling in his 
mind at the moment. The original itself, which is in 
a state of excellent preservation, is a most interesting 
document, carrying back the eye and mind, as it were 
by enchantment, over so many centuries. 

" Ryght trusty and ryght well beloved Counslrs, — 
Wee grete you well, and desyr the same, that wheras 
yt hathe pleased (Almighty" — interlined) " God to 
call to his mercy out of this lyfe our dearest cousyn 
the kyng yur late soveryn lorde. By reson wherof, 



AND HER TIMES. 253 

and such ordynanceys as the sayd late kyngc dyde 
establysh in hys lyfe tyme, for the securitie and wel- 
fare of thys realme, we are enteryd into our ryghtful 
possessyon of thys kingdome, as by the (last will of 
our sayd derest cosin our late auncestor, and other" — 
interlined) " severall instruments to that effect, signed 
with his owne hande, and sealyd with the greate seale 
of this realm (England" — obliterated) " in his owne 
presence, and the nobles of this realm for the most pte, 
and all our counsell and judges, with the .... and all 
.... of the ryte of landes and suche other .... use- 
ages of this our realm of England — have allso sub- 
scrybed theyr names, as by the same will and testament 
it may now evydently and doey the apere ; now ther- 
fore do you understand that by the .... and suffer- 
ance of the heavenly Lorde, and by the assent and 
consent of the sayd nobles and counsellors, and others 
before signifyed, wee do this day make our entry into 
our Towere of London as ryghtfull quene of this 
realm, and have accordingly sett forthe our proclama- 
tion to all our loving subiects, givyng theym therby to 
understand the same as theyr dutye of aledgaunce 
which they now of ryght owe unto us, as most amply 
shall be shewn herafter, nothing doubtinge, ryght 
trusty and well beloved counslr, but that you wyll en- 
deavour yrselfe in all things to the uttermost of your 
power, not only to defend for our use, but allso assist 



254 LADY JANE GREY, 

us in our ryghtfull possessyon of this kingdome, and to 
disturbe, repel, and resyste, die fayned and untrew 
clay me of die Lady Mary, bastard daughter to our 
grate uncle Henry the Eight, of famous memory. 
Wherin as you shall, and that w 4 to your hous d truthe 
and duty aptayneth, so shall we quitt and shew unto 
you and yours accordingly, At our mansion of " 

As no place of residence was here named, it is pro- 
bable that a removal to Westminster was in contem- 
plation, provided any general expression of the public 
feeling should sanction it, and render the enforced de- 
tention, for such it was, of the council in the Tower no 
longer necessary. But no such feeling did manifest 
itself; and as early as the 12th of July, perhaps the day 
previous, as appears from the despatch to Sir P. Hoby 
already given, news was brought that the counties of 
Norfolk and Suffolk had declared in favour of Mary ; 
when Northumberland and his friends determined upon 
raising forces with all possible speed, that they might sur- 
prise Mary, and bring her to town a prisoner. To ac- 
complish this the Duke of Suffolk, it has been stated, was 
to have taken the command ; but Bishop Godwin, who 
certainly must have known the fact, asserts, that those 
in the council, at the Tower, who privately favoured 
Mary, influenced Lady Jane to keep her father near 
her, and to send Northumberland on the expedition, 



AND HER TIMES. 255 

urging to her that he, having so lately reduced the 
Norfolk rebels, under Ket, would do more by the ter- 
ror of his name, than the other could by his arms or 
counsel, or any other way ; they also pointed out to 
her, that her own father was the most proper guardian 
for a daughter ; and as to any doubts of the city, they 
added, that her council were at hand to govern it witli 
their usual wisdom and fidelity. 

Influenced by these reasons, Lady Jane, we are told, 
pleaded the same to Northumberland; but she had 
considerable difficulty to persuade him to the measure, 
as he foresaw the probability that his presence must be 
much more important'' in town than in the proposed 
expedition. He was, however, finally persuaded ; and 
on the 13th of July marched out of London with an 
army of six thousand men, preparations having been 
previously made to array the forces ; in furtherance of 
which, on the night of the 12th three carts were sent 
to the Tower, which were there laden with ordnance 
of all kinds, consisting of great guns and small, bows, 
bills, spears, morice pikes, arrows, gunpowder, victuals, 
tents, gunstones, &c. — a species of military preparation, 
but most certainly which, in quality and in extent, ap- 
pears almost ludicrous at the present day. 

As Northumberland was marching through the city, 
he turned to the Lord Grey de Wilton, who was with 
him, and desired him to observe the crowds that 
pressed to see their march ; " Yet," said he, " in all 



%56 LADY JANE GREY, 

this multitude, my lord, you do not hear one wish us 
prosperity.'" 

Hollinshed, speaking of this transaction, says, that 
Northumberland was persuaded to the measure " by 
the speciall means of the Ladie Jane his daughter; 
who, taking the matter heavilie, with weeping teares, 
made request to the whole councell that hir father 
might tarrie at home in hir companies He adds, that 
after the council had urged various reasons to North- 
umberland — " finallie, said they, this is the short and 
the long, the quene will in no wise graunt that hir 
father shall take it upon him" — " then went the coun- 
cell in to the Ladie Jane, and told hir of their con- 
clusion, who humbly thanked the duke for reserving 
hir father at home ,, — a favour which he certainly 
granted her in opposition to his better judgment. 

Indeed Northumberland seems to have had great 
suspicions of the fidelity of the Londoners from the 
very first ; for no sooner had Lady Jane been pro- 
claimed, as we have before noticed, than the lord ad- 
miral, Lord Clinton, was made constable of the Tower, 
who instantly mounted guns, all ready for service, 
upon all the bastions and batteries. 

Yet Jane herself so far got the better of her fears as 
to exercise several of the personal rights belonging to 
her assumed station; for it appears, that on the 12th 
of July she received from the Marquess of Winchester, 
then lord treasurer of the household, various of the 



AND HE II TIMES. ^ i 

crown jewels, pieces of gold and silver, some cash, 
Iwoks, and even some articles for her wardrobe *. 

If a little personal vanity should have entered into 
this arrangement, though it was certainly in opposition 
to her previously declared feelings and opinions, some 
excuse may liberally be made on the plea of extreme 
youth: besides urging the possible influence of her 
husband : for, as we shall presently see, Lord Guild- 
ford also received various things from the lord treasurer. 

* But, unwilling as Lady Jane was to usurp the crown, and 
with the moderation and good sense which she possessed, it is 
not probahle that the trappings of royalty had any particular 
charms for her; though she was obliged to assume that state 
which she coveted not, and to avail herself of the crown jewels 
for that purpose. It may serve to mark the manners of those 
times, if we here insert a list of the articles which were two days 
afterwards delivered to her, as specified in the original order : — 
" a fyshe of golde, being a toothe pyk ; a like pendent, having 
one great perle, and iii litle perles at it : one dewbery of gold ; 
a colet with v perles, and a counterfit stone : a newte of silver 
white ; a tablet with a white saphire and a blewe, and ballesse 
and a perle pendaunt ; a tablet of golde, hanged by a chaine, 
with a Sainct Jones hcade, and viii flots perles ; a tablet of a 
picture of our Ladieof Piti in a blew stone ; a paire of beads of 
white purslayn, with viii gawdes of golde : viii gawdes of golde, 
and a tassel of Venice golde ; beads of golde crymery worke ; 
buttons of gold of crymery worke ; six pursses hangers of silver 
and gilt ; v small agathes, with stars graven on them ; perles in 
rondels of gold between pivots of perles, pipes of golde ; a paire 
of brasselets of flagon, chayne with jacinths ; buttons of golde 
crymery worke, in every button six perles ; xxx small turkesis 
little worthe ; xiiii table diamaunts set in collets of golde : an 
abillyament of goldismithes worke ; another abillyament, with 
xii table diamaunts set in golde; xliii damaskin buttons; a 
cloake of damasked worke, booke fashun." 



258 lady jaxe giey, 

Great anxiety was now felt by Jane's council for the 
success of their diplomatic application at the imperial 
court, where, indeed, they had very little chance of 
success, as appears from the double line of policy 
which the emperor's ministers were evidently pursuing. 
To illustrate this we shall introduce a letter, which, on 
the 15th of July, the commissioners in Flanders wrote 
to the privy council, to the following effect : 

" Pleesythe it your good lorshippes. The xiiij h of 
this presente, Don Diego found me Sir Phillipe Hobby 
^ and me Sir Richard Morysone, walkyne in our hostes 
gardene, and at his first eomynge to us enterid into a 
longe talke howe much he was bounde to owe his good 
wille and service to Englande, and therfor he could 
not but at one time both sorrowe with us for the losse 
of our good old mastere, a prince of such vertuc and 
towardnesse, and also rejoyse with us that cur master, 
which is departed, did, ere he wente, provid us of a 
kynge, in regard wee had so much cause to rejovsc 
in ; he made his excuse that he had come to us the 
daye before, layenge the staye therof in De Arras, for, 
said he, when I told him I wolde come to you, and 
shewe me a ptaker of both your sorrowes and gladnes, 
with mynde to offer to the kinges majestic bv vou both 
of as muche service as could lye in mee, and of as 
muche as my frends and kynsmen were able to doe in 
case De Arras did thinke suchc mv office would not 



AX1) HER TIMES. 259 

offend the emperor my master ; De Arras advyse was 
that I shold for a seeson differe my going unto you, 
which as I did somwate againste my will, so I and 
mine were very glad that so I dide, for he tellethe mce 
no we I may come to you and sorrowe with you, and 
rejoice with you, and make all the offeres that I canne 
to the kyng^s majestie, for I shall not only not offend 
him in so doinge, but I shall muche please his majestie 
therwith. And therfor saithe hee do I and sorye that 
you lose so good a kynge, so doe much I rejoyse that 
ye haue so noble and so towarde a prince to succeede 
him, and I promyse ye, by the worde of a gentleman, 
I wolde at all tymes serve his highnesse my selfe^ and 
as many as I shall be able to bringe with me, yff the 
emperor did calle me to serve him. We sayd we had 
hitherto reseaved the sorrowefulle newese, but the 
glad tydyns wear not as yet come unto us by no let- 
teres. Wee weare glad to heare this muche, and wishe 
that we weare able to telle him all ho we thinges went 
at home. Saythe hee, I cane telle you thus muche. 
The kyng's majestie, for discharge of his consyence, 
writ a good peece of his testamente with his ownc 
hande, barrynge bothe his systeres of the crowne, and 
leavynge it to the Lady Jane, neere to the French 
Queene. Whether the two daughteres be bastarde or 
noe, or whie it is done, wee that be straungeres haue 
nothinge to doe with the mattere. You are bounde to 
obaye and serve his majestic, and therefor it is rccsone 



260 LADY J AXE GREY, 

we take him for your king, whom the consente of the 
nobles of your countrie haue declared for your kinge 
(and say th he), for my pte off all others am bounde to 
be glade that his mjstie is sette in this offyce. I was 
his godfather, and wold as willingly spend my blood in 
his service as any subjecte that he hathe, as long as I 
shall see the emperor, my master, so willing to embrace 
mjties amy tie. Don Francisson de Este, general 1 of 
all the footmen Itallyanes is gone to his charge in 
mylland, who, at his departure, made the lyke offere, as 
long as his mastere and owres shold be frendes, which he 
trusted should be ever ; praynge us at our returne to 
uttere it to the kinges majesty, and thus will humbly 
take our leave of your honores. From the comis- 
syoneres att Bruxelles, the xv h of July, 1553, to the 
counsell." 

This was followed up, two days afterwards, by a 
similar despatch : 

" Pleese it your lordshippes, the xvi th of this month, 
wee declared to the emperor our hevie and sorrowful !c 
newes, ettynge forthe, after that, your lordshippes 
assurede good willes and redynes att all tvmes to ob- 
serve and maintayne the amytyes which hathe beene 
all wayes betwixte the realme of Englande and this 
off Burgundy, and other the emperor's domvnvonos 
accord ynge to your lordshippes pleasures, sygnifyed 



AND UEB TIMES. Q.61 

unto us in yours of the 9" day of this present month, 
for aunswere wheerunto the emperor sayd that he was 
rvghte sorie, for his pte, of this hevie newes, whearby 
he greved the losse of suche a brother and so goode a 
frcnde, bothe to him and to his contryes, and con- 
syderynge that he was of such a greete towardness, 
and of such a hope to doe good, and bee a staye to 
chrystendome, his losse was so muche the greatere; 
and usid in this behalfe many good wordes to our late 
soveraigne lordes commendacones and declaracons of 
his grefe for his deathe, and touchinge (saythe he) the 
amy tie whiche hathe byne betwixte me and my late 
good brothre our country es and subjectes, as I haue 
alwayes had good will to the observaunce off the same, 
according to such treatyes as weere betwixte us, so 
nowe understanding by you, my lordes off the coun- 
sells good inclinacone and mynde to entertayne and 
observe this amitye for corespondence of bothe, nowe 
haue and shall haue lyke good wille to keepe and con- 
tynue the same, and I thanke them for makynge mee 
to understande theyr good wille hearin, with compli- 
ment off many other good wordes to this purpose, so 
that as farre as wee could perceave by his wordes, he 
myndethe, assuredlye to keepe amytie with us ; yet to 
disypher him better herin, it wear not amyse in our 
oppvnyoncs, when as your lordshippes shall advertis 
him, either with some newc league, or to tempte him 



£62 LADY JAKE GREY, 

what he will saye to the olde, or by some other meanes 
which your wisdomes can better devyse. From the 
comyssyoners with the emperor, the IT' off July, 1553, 
to the counsell." 

Whilst this scene of diplomatic duplicity was acting 
on the continent, the ruling party at home were using 
all means in their power to work upon the populace ; 
for which purpose, on the 16th of July, another ser- 
mon was preached, at St. Paul's Cross, in favour of the 
^> new reign, by Mr. Rogers, the learned reader of tjiat 
cathedral ; but he is stated to hare been more circum^ 
spect in his observations respecting Mary, and her 
alleged illegitimacy, than Bishop Ridley had been on 
the preceding Sunday. This, however, availed him 
but little afterwards ; for he was one of Mary's victims 
at the stake, during her short but persecuting sway. 

Considerable lukewarmness was also manifesting itself 
among the council, and suspicion seems already to have 
been at work ; as Hollinshed relates, that in the course 
of the day, the Lord Treasurer having left the Tower 
to go to his house in London, the gates of that fortress 
were shut at seven o'clock in the evening, in a sudden 
manner, and the keys carried to Lady Jane,' " which 
was for feare of some packing in the Lord Treasurer ; 
but hee was fetched again to the Tower, about tweluc 
of the clocke in the night." That he was not a staunch 






AND HER TIMES. 263 

friend to the cause was indeed surmised, and not un- 

jusilv, as his subsequent conduct proved: but he was 
not the only secret enemy of the youthful usurper ; for 
the unhappy Jane began now to feel the sorrows of a 
crown ; the spirit of discord already working powerfully 
amongst her council, in consequence of reports made 
by the Marquess of Winchester, the Lord Treasurer, 
that the people in general were for Mary, that many of 
the nobility, who were at liberty, had joined her, and 
that the hopes of Northumberland's success were already 
extremely doubtful. 

Letters also arrived this day from Northumberland 
himself, in which he complained that the council had 
not sent the promised reinforcements; which had so 
much discouraged his own troops, that they already 
began to dwindle away very fast. 

These letters w r ere likewise very pressing for further 
succours, and consequently were at once laid before 
^he council ; but the members were busily engaged in 
consulting their own safety, and in contriving how to 
get out of the Tower, in which they were still, in some 
measure, prisoners : and it was not in the eastern coun- 
ties alone that Mary was acknowledged ; for in Buck- 
inghamshire, numbers of the people were up in arms. 
To quiet them, it was resolved by the council to send 
troops under the Earls of Pembroke and Arundel; 
but this seems to have been merely a stratagem to blind 
Suffolk, whilst so many of Mary's friends were in his 



£64 LADY JANE CKEY, 

power ; for both the.se earls were the warmest friends 
of Mary, as they clearly manifested the very first mo- 
ment at which they felt themselves at liberty to declare 
their sentiments. 

Under the impression of their friendship, however, 
both Jane and her father were induced, on the 18th of 
July, to send off the following despatch. 

" To our trustie and well beloved Sir John Bridges 



O 



and Sir Nicholas Poyntz, Knyghts. 

" Jane the Quene. 

" Trusty and welbeloved wee grete you well, be- 
cause we doubt not but this our most law r full possession 
of the crowne w'-' the free eonsente of the nobilitie of 
our realm, and other the states of the same as bothe 
playnly knowne and accepted of you, as our most 
loving subjects, therfore we do not reiterate the same, but 
now most earnestly will and require^ and by authoritie 
herof warraunt yo u to assemble, muster, and levie all 
the powre that you can possible make, either of yo' 
servants, tenants, officers, or freends, as wel horsmen 
as footmen, reparing to o r right trusty and right wel- 
beloved cousins, the Erls of Arundell and Pembroke*, 
theyr tenants, servants, and officers, and with the same 
to repayre with all possible speed towards Buckingham- 

* In the margin is a note — " The- these earls at the time wca 
plotting against her." 



AND HER TIMES. !i()o 

shire, for the repression and subduing of certain tu- 
mults and rebellions moved there against us and our 
crowne by certain seditious men. For the repression 
wherof we have given orders to divers others our good 
subiects, and gentlemen of such degree as you are, to 
repaire in like manner to the same parties. So as we 
nothing doubt but upon the accesse of suche our loving 
subiects as be appointed for that purpose to the place 
wher this seditious people yet remayne, the same shall 
either lake harte to abyde in their malitious purpose or 
else receyve such punishment and execution as they 
deserve, seking the destruction of their native countrie 
and the subversion of all men in their degrees, by re- 
bellion of the base multitude, whos rage being stirred, 
as of late yeres hath byn seen, must nedes be the con- 
fusion of thole comon weale. Wherfor o r spiall trust 
is in yo r courage, wisedome, and fidelities in this mater, 
to advaunce yo r selfs bothe w h poure and speed to this 
enterprize, in such sorte as by y e nobilitie and counsaill 
shalbe also prescribed unto you. And for the susten- 
tation of yo r chardge in this behalf, o r said counsaill, 
by our said comaundement, do further give order to 
your satisfaction, as by their leres also shall appere 
unto yo\ And beside that, we do assure you of our 
speciall consideracyon of this yo r service to us and our 
crown, as expresly to the pservacon of this our realmc 
and commonwealth. Geven under our signet at the 



$66 LADY .TANK CiltEY, 

Toure of London, the xviii th day of July, the first 
yeare of our reign." 

After Northumberland had set off to seize upon 
Mary's person, an accident, as Godwin describes it, 
took place, which proved of very great advantage to 
the affairs of that princess. The friends of Lady 
Jane, fearing Mary's escape by sea, had ordered six 
men of war to cruise off the coast in the North sea to 
intercept her, if necessary. By stress of weather these 
ships were forced into Yarmouth roads, at the very 
juncture whilst a levy was raising there in Mary's fa- 
vour. The seamen and soldiers on board the squadron 
were soon prevailed upon, partly by threats and partly 
by promises, to mutiny, and to deliver up the ships to 
Sir Henry Jerningham, one of Mary's officers, which 
thus furnished her with men, ammunition, and a 
train of artillery, and she resolved at once to march 
against Northumberland's forces, which were speedily 
forced to retreat. When the news came to town, it 
excited great alarm in the minds of the council ; and 
Mary's friends at court, being now grown bolder, began 
to open their minds to each other : some of them, how- 
ever, were suspected vby Suffolk and his confidential 
friends; for Godwin says, that Mary's partisans de- 
sired " nothing more than the liberty of going out of 
the Tower, that they might confer more freely." 



AND IfKK TIMES. 52()T 

In regard to this affair Bishop Godwin states, that 
when Northumberland first retreated to Cambridge, he 
plyed the council with continual and earnest applica- 
tions for recruits ; great numbers of his men having 
deserted at Bury, and he fearing that most of the re- 
mainder would soon follow them. Mary's party in the 
Tower, taking hold of this opportunity, came to a re- 
solution that the necessary forces should be raised as 
soon as possible ; but then, they said, that none but 
themselves ought to be trusted with the command of 
them ; and soon after, by Suffolk's leave, they got out 
of the Tower, where they had been, in fact, prisoners, 
and dispersed themselves over the city. 

By the care and industry of the heads of these, all 
of the council that could be found, and several others 
of the nobility, who were known not to be ill affected 
towards Mary, were assembled at Baynard's Castle, 
then the residence of the Earl of Pembroke, under pre- 
tence of treating upon general affairs, but in reality to 
concert measures for the deposition of Lady Jane. 

We are told by Strype, in his Life of Cranmer, 
that Jane's party seemed resolute for her until the 
19th of July; on which day the following persons 
of quality were with her in the Tower, consulting of 
affairs for her service; viz, Cranmer, archbishop of 
Canterbury, the Bishop of Ely, then lord chancellor, 
and the lord treasurer, the Marquess of Winchester ; 
also the Duke of Suffolk ; the Earls of Bedford, Arun- 



268 LADY JANE GREY, 

del, Shrewsbury, and Pembroke; the Lords Darcy 
and Paget; Sirs Thomas Cheiney, Richard Cotton, 
William Petre, John Cheke, John Baker, and Robert 
Bowes ; being all of her council. On this occasion 
they received a letter from Lord Rich, lord lieutenant 
of Essex, informing them that the Earl of Oxford was 
fled to the Lady Mary : whereupon a letter was drawn 
up by Sir John Cheke, in the absence of Cecyl, ad- 
dressed to Lord Rich, exhorting him to stand true to 
Queen Jane, as they, they said, would do : yet even 
tiien some hesitation must have commenced amongst 
them ; for Sir William Petre, who was secretary of 
state, along with Cecyl, avoided writing the letter, 
which was to the following effect : 

" After our right hartie commendations to your 
lp, although the matter conteined in your letters of 
thearle of Oxford departing to the Lady Mari be 
grevous unto us for divers respects, yet we must 
neades giue your lp our hartie thanks for your redi 
advertisement thereof. Requiring your lp neverthe- 
less, like a nobleman, to remain in that promise and 
steedfastness to our sovereign lady Queen Jane's ser- 
vice, as ye shall find us redi and firm with all our 
force to the same. Which neither with honor, nor 
with saftie, nor yet with duty wee mai now forsake. 

"From the Toure of London, the xix' 1 ' of Julie, 
1553." 



AND HER TIMES. 2()9 

Whilst part of the council were preparing this let- 
ter in the Tower, transactions of a very different na- 
ture were in course of action in the city : for at the 
meeting at Castle Baynard, the Earl of Arundel 
first moved allegiance to Mary, in which he was se- 
conded by Pembroke ; who, clapping his hand upon 
his sword, declared that he was ready to dispute the 
matter at the hazard of his life with any one who 
would dare to oppose it. In an instant, all were 
unanimous: the lord mayor and aldermen were sent 
for, and the whole assembly proceeded to Cheapside, 
where they proclaimed Mary by sound of trumpet ; 
and with such loud applause was it received, that, as 
Godwin affirms, after the name of Mary, not a word 
more could be heard for the general acclamations ; 
and no sooner was this affair settled, than the Earl of 
Arundel and Lord Paget set off on horseback to 
Mary, to acquaint her with the intelligence; which 
she received with the greatest transport. 

In a letter written at this period, it is stated, that 
" greate* was the triumph e hear at London: for my 
tyme I never sawe the lyke and by the reporte of 
otheres the lyke was never seene. The nomber of 
cappes that weare throwne up at the pclamation wear 
not to be tould. The Earle of Pembroke threwe 
awaye his cape full of angeiles. I sawe myself money 

* B. M. Harl. Coll. 358, U. Extracts of letters describing 
the events of that time. 



270 LADY JANE GREY, 

was throwne out at windowes for joy. The bonefires 
weare without nomber ; and what with showtynge and 
criange off the people, and ringinge of belles, theare 
could no one man heare almost what another sayd; 
besides banketynge and skippinge the streete for joye. 
There was present at the pclamation, the Earle of Pem- 
broke, the Erie of Shrewesbury, the Earle of Arundelle, 
my L d Warden, my Lord Mayor, Sir John Mason, 
Sir John Cheeke, and divres others to the nomber of 
x : and after the pclamation, made in Cheapsyde, they all 
wente to Poules to even song. The Duke of Suffolk 
beinge at the Towere, and as some saie did not knowe 
of it ; but so soone as he herd of it, he came himselfe 
out of the Towere, and comandyd his men to leave 
ther wepones behinde them, sayinge that he himselfe 
was but one man ; and himselfe pclaymed my Lady 
Maryes grace Queene on the Towere Hille; and 
so came into London levinge the leifftennant in the 
Towere." 

The letters then detail the proceedings in the coun- 
try ; saying, " Great shew was in Northamptonshire 
about pclayming of hir : yesterday e, at Northampton, 
Sir Thomas Greshame pclaymed her, with the ayd and 
helpe of the towne, being borne amongst them, whe- 
ther he would or not. Sir Nicolas Thromiiorton beinge 
presente, withstandinge him to his powerc, was dan- 
yeas for saffetyc of his lyfe to take a howse, and so 
beinge borne amongcste diveres gentlemen, escaped 



AXD TIER TIMES. 271 

with much adoe; the inhabitants would have kilde 
him veri fayne. 

" Sir Robarte Girwill (Greville) mustered yestcr- 
daye in Northamptonshire, to goo to my Lord of North- 
umberland, as many men as he coulde gette. Sir 
Thomas Greshame recevyng like lettres to mustere for 
my Lord of Northumberlane, woulde not goe. Sir 
John Williams hathe 6 or 7000 men thear, as Richard 
Silliard saythe, and thear is with him Sir Edmunde 
Pertham, the sherive of Oxfordshire, the sherive of 
Northamptonshire, and diveres others. Sir John Gate 
and my Lord Garret, (sic orig.) who went downc with 
the garde to my Lady Mary, as is credibli reportid, 
are bothe slayne, and the most pt off the garde gone 
to my Lady Mary. 1 '* 

Northumberland's conduct on this expedition is thus 
briefly stated by Lloyd, yet with more minuteness than 
in general history : 

" The first night he came to Cambridge, all the 
doctors supped with him : and Doctor Sandys is ap- 
pointed to preach before him next day. The doctor 
late at night betakes himself to his prayers and stud}-, 
desiring God to direct him to a fit text for that time. 
His Bible openeth at the first of Joshua, and (though 
he heard no voice with St. Augustine, saying, Telle ct 
lege — < take and read' — ) a strong fancy inclined him 
to fix on the first w r ords he beheld, v. 16 : And they 
answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest 



272 LADY JAXK GREY, 

us we will do ; and whithersoever thou sendest we will 
go : a text he so wisely and warily handled, that his 
enemies got not so full advantage against him as they 
expected. 

" The next day the duke advanced to Bury, with 
his army, whose feet marched forward,- whilst their 
minds moved backward. Upon the news brought 
him, he returned to Cambridge, with more sad thoughts 
within him, than valiant souldiers about him. Then 
went he with the mayor of the town, and proclaimed 
the queen ; the beholders whereof more believing the 
grief in his eyes, when they let down tears, than 
the joy professed by his hands, when he threw up his 
cap. Slegge, sergeant at arms, arrests him in King's 
College ; and when the proclamation of pardon set him 
at liberty, the Earl of Arundel re-arrests him, at whose 
feet he craves mercy !" 

The new council despatched letters to Northumber- 
land to acquaint him with the news, calling upon him 
to submit ; but he had previously been arrested, as al- 
ready noticed : and we may sum up shortly, by stating, 
that the army was then disbanded ; and the greatest 
part of the nobility, in a body, offered their allegiance 
to Mary. Those who had offended, obtained pardons 
generally ; and the whole blame of the affair was 
thrown upon the Duke of Northumberland. 

The proclamation was no sooner made, than the 
new council sent forthwith a force to seize upon the 



ANO HER TIKES. 

Tower, and to call Suffolk before them ; alter which 
they went to St. Paul's, and sung Te Deum. 

Such indeed was the rapid change of policy, that 
several even of those very counsellors who had but 
the day before set their hands to resolutions to stand 
by the Lady Jane, actually were amongst those who 
proclaimed Queen Mary in the city of London ; and 
immediately joined in despatching the Earl of Arun- 
del and Lord Paget to her with a letter, written from 
Baynard's Castle, whither they had removed from the 
Tower ; in which letter " they beg her pardon, and to 
remit ther former offences. ,, 

There is no reason to believe that Lady Jane was 
acquainted with any part of these events, before the in- 
formation was brought by her father : but the tragic- 
poet already quoted, by assuming the fact differently, 
has produced a very interesting scene : 

Guil. What read'st thou there, my queen ? 

Lady J. Tis Plato's Phsedon ; 
Where dying Socrates takes leave of life 
With such an easy, careless, calm indifference, 
As if the trifle were of no account, 
Mean in itself, and only to be worn 
In honour of the giver. 

Guil, Shall thy soul 
Still scorn the world, still fly the joys that court ? 
Still shall she soar on contemplation's wing, 
And mix with nothing meaner than the stars ? 

Lady J. The faithless counsellors 
Are fled from hence to join the princess Mary. 
The servile herd of courtiers, who so late 



274 LADY JANE GREY, 

In low obedience bent the knee before me ; 
They who with zealous tongues and hands uplifted 
Besought me to defend their laws and faith, 
Vent their lewd execrations on my name, 
Proclaim me trait'ress now, and to the scaffold 
Doom my devoted head. 

Guil. The changeling villains ! 
That pray for slavery, fight for their bonds, 
And shun the blessing, liberty, like ruin. 
But wherefore do I loiter tamely here ? 
Give me my arms : I will preserve my country 
Ev'n in her own despite. Some friends I have 
Who will or die or conquer in thy cause, 
Thine and religion's, thine and England's cause. 

Lady J. Art thou not all my treasure, all my guard ? 
And wo't thou take from me the only joy, 
The last defence, is left me here below ? 
Think not thy arm can stem the driving torrent, 
Or save a people who, with blinded rage, 
Urge their own fate, and strive to be undone. 
Northumberland, thy father, is in arms ; 
And if it be in valour to defend us, 
His sword, that long has known the way to conquest, 
Shall be our surest safety. 

Godwin says, that when the Duke of Suffolk heard 
of Mary being proclaimed in the city, as much de- 
jected then, as he had before been exalted, he went 
into his daughter's apartments, ordered all the cere- 
monies of royalty to cease, and admonished her to bear, 
with what patience she could, her return to a private 
station. But her fortitude was greater than he had 
imagined ; for she answered him, with a countenance 
not at all discomposed, that this was a more welcome 
summons to her than that which forced her against her 



AND HIlH times. 375 

will to such an elevation. " In obedience to you, my 
lard," said she, " and to my mother, I acted a vio- 
lence on myself, and have been guilty of a grievous 
offence; but the present is my own act, and I will- 
ingly resign to correct another's fault, if so great a 
fault can be corrected by my resignation and sincere 
acknowledgment." 

Godwin next asserts, that having said this, she re- 
tired to her closet, more solicitous for her life, which 
she knew to be in danger, than concerned for the loss 
of her crown. 

The whole scene is thus delineated by Rowe : 

Suf. Oh, my children ! 

Lady J. Alas ! what means my father? 

Suf Oh, my son ! 
Thy father, great Northumberland, on whom 
Our dearest hopes were built 

Guil. Ha! what of him? 

Suf. Is lost, betray'd ! 
His army, onward as he march'd, shrunk from him, 
Moulder'd away, and melted by his side : 
With some few followers he arrived at Cambridge, 
But there ev'n they forsook him, and himself 
Was forced, with heavy heart and wat'ry eye, 
To cast his cap up with dissembled cheer, 
And cry God save Queen Mary. But, alas ! 
Little avail'd the semblance of that loyalty ; 
For soon, thereafter, by the earl of Arundel 
With treason he was charged, and there arrested, 
And now he brings him pris'ner up to London. 

Lady J. Then there's an end of greatness; the vain dream 
Of empire and a crown that danced before mc, 
Is vanish'd all at once— Why, fare it well ! 

T U 



276 LADY JANE GllKV, 

Gail And canst thou bear this sudden turn of fate 
With such unshaken temper ? 

Lady J. For myself, 
If I could form a wish for Heaven to grant, 
It should have been to rid me of this crown, 
And thou, o'erruling, great, all-knowing Pow'r ! 
Thou who discern'st our thoughts, who seest 'em rising 
And forming in the soul, oh, judge me thou, 
If e'er ambition's guilty fires have warm'd me, 
If e'er my heart inclined to pride, to pow'r, 
Or join'd in being a queen. I took the sceptre 
To save this land, thy people, and thy altars : 
And now behold I bend my grateful knee 
In humble adoration of that mercy 
Which quits me of the vast unequal task. 

No sooner had the Duke of Suffolk thus, as it were, 
deposed his daughter, than he went to the council, in 
obedience to their summons, and subscribed further 
instructions, to be sent to Northumberland, requiring 
him to disband his forces, and submit to Queen Mary, 
if he meant they should become humble suitors to 
their sovereign for him and his, as well as for them- 
selves. That he must have done this under great 
alarm, is evident ; for even previous to his appearance 
before the council, and indeed as soon as Mary was 
proclaimed, an order had been sent by the council to 
the Tower, to require him to deliver up that fortress, 
and to acknowledge Queen Mary publicly. It was fur- 
ther directed, that Lady Jane should lay down the title 
of queen ; a measure already voluntarily adopted, and 
with great propriety: for it appears that the indivi- 



A XI) HEB TIMES 3/ i 

duals within the Tower were as friendly to the change 
as those without; not through want of affection to- 
wards the Lady Jane, but from dislike to Northum- 
berland, and a natural loyalty to the direct line of 
descent. It must be remembered, too, that the idea 
of Mary being a Roman catholic was not likely to 
weigh much with the great mass of the people in that 
early stage of the reformation; for there can be no 
doubt, that the Roman catholic ritual and ceremo- 
nials were much more popular with the ignorant and 
unenlightened body of the " commons," as they were 
then specifically styled, than the simplicity of the re- 
formed mode of worship. 

The arrival of the official announcement of deposi- 
tion is thus described by the poet so often alluded to, 
whilst Lady Jane was kneeling : 

Duch. Nay, keep that posture still, and let us join, 
Fix all our knees by thine, lift up our hands, 
And seek for help and pity from above, 
For earth and faithless man will give us none. 

Lady J. What is the worst our cruel fate ordains us ? 

Duck. Cursed be my fatal counsels, cursed my tongue, 
That pleaded for thy ruin, and persuaded 
Thy guiltless feet to tread the paths of greatness ! 
My child — I have undone thee ! 

Lady J. Oh, my mother ! 
Should I not bear a portion in your sorrows ? 

Duch. Alas ! thou hast thy own, a double portion. 
Mary is come, and the revolting Londoners, 
Who beat the heav'ns with thy applauded name, 
Now crowd to meet and hail her as their queen. 
Sussex is enter'd here, commands the Tower, 



ST8 LADY JANE ftKET, 

Has placed his guards around, and this sad place,. 

So late thy palace, is become our prison. 

I saw him bend his knee to cruel Gard'ner, 

Who, freed from his confinement, ran to meet him, 

Embraced and bless'd him with a hand of blood ; 

Each hast'ning moment I expect 'em here 

To seize and pass the doom of death upon us. 

Guil. Ha ! seized ! shalt thou be seized, and shall I stand 
And tamely see thee borne away to death ? 
Then blasted be my coward name for ever. 
No, I will set myself to guard this spot, 
To which our narrow empire now is shrunk : 
Here I will grow the bulwark of my queen, 
Nor shall the hand of violence profane thee 
Until my breast have borne a thousand wounds, 
Till this torn mangled body sink at once 
A heap of purple ruin at thy feet. 

Lady J. And could thy rash distracted rage do thus ? 
Draw thy vain sword against an armed multitude ? 
Oh, call thy better nobler courage to thee, 
And let us meet this adverse fate with patience ! 

The rapidity of the change of circumstances may be 
well illustrated by the following anecdote: — A Mr. 
Edward Underhill, descended from a good family in 
Warwickshire, who, for his services in the army, had 
been admitted into the band of gentlemen pensioners, 
in which he remained during the reign of Edward, 
was now about the person of Queen Jane. In his 
youth, he had been a man of pleasure ; but, being 
converted to the reformed religion, became so sincere 
and so zealous a protestant, that his comrades in the 
band, who were less religious, gave him the nick-name 
of the Hot Gospeller. He was, from these circum- 



AND HF.R TIMES. 279 

stances, a favourite at the new court, and was actually 
on duty at the Tower, when his wife was brought to 
bed of a son. The baptism of the infant became a 
matter of court favour, and was fixed for the 19th 
of July, when the Duke of Suffolk, and the Earl of 
Pembroke, were to be godfathers by proxy ; and the 
Lady Jane herself not only signified her intention of 
being godmother, but, as a still higher mark of favour, 
desired that the child should be called Guildford, after 
her beloved husband. The baptism, as appointed, 
took place ; and Lady Throckmorton, wife to Sir 
Nicholas, was deputed to stand the royal proxy. On 
leaving the Tower that evening, Lady Throckmorton 
received the royal commands from Lady Jane herself, 
according to all due form and ceremony, and carried 
them, as usual, to the merry meeting. 

The ceremony over, she returned to the Tower; 
but her amazement was excessive, on entering the 
royal apartment, to find the canopy of state removed, 
together with all other ensigns of royalty : she was 
soon informed, however, by one of the new officers, 
that times were changed since her departure in the 
afternoon ; that her lady was a prisoner for high 
treason, and that she must attend her, but under the 
weight of a similar charge ! 

The ruling party had indeed shown very little de- 
licacy on the subject ; for scarcely had their order for 
laying down the crown been received at the Tower, 



280 LADY JANE GREY, 

than it was followed by another, directing that Lady 
Jane should be made a close prisoner, and that all 
her attendants should proceed to their respective 
homes. To this order she bowed with great resigna- 
tion : but the parting with her loved husband (for 
they were most cruelly separated) was almost too much 
for her fortitude. 

The execution of this most ungenerous task fell 
upon Bishop Gardiner; but whose zeal for the 
Roman catholic religion made the task a work of 
pleasure. 

Beyond this short record of the proceedings of that 
day history affords us no detail. We may well indeed 
imagine the heart-rending sorrows of the youthful 
couple, thus separated in the very early days of nuptial 
union, and fearing for each other's fate more than for 
their own ; — but the best illustration will be found in 
the scene, as delineated by the admirable poet so often 
quoted : 

Sus. Guards, execute your orders ; seize the traitors ; 
Here my commission ends. To you, my lord, 
So our great mistress, royal Mary, bids, 
I leave the full disposal of these pris'ners : 
To your wise care the pious queen commends 
Her sacred self, her crown, and what's yet more, 
The holy Roman church, for whose dear safety 
She wills your utmost diligence be shown 
To bring rebellion to the bar of justice. 
Yet farther, to proclaim how much she trusts 
In Winchester's deep thought and well tried faith, 
The seal attends to grace those rev'iviul hands; 



AND HEIt TIMES. 281 

And when I next salute you, I must call you 
Chief minister and chancellor of England. 

Gar. Unnumber'd blessings fall upon her head, 
My ever gracious lady ! to remember 
With such full bounty her old humble beadsman ! 
For these her foes, leave me to deal with them. 

Sus. The queen is on her entrance,, and expects me. 
My lord, farewell. 

Gar. Farewell, right noble Sussex ; 
Commend me to the queen's grace ; say, her bidding 
Shall be observed by her most lowly creature. 
Lieutenant of the Tow'r, take hence your pris'ners : 
Be it your care to see 'em kept apart, 
That they may hold no commerce with each other. 

Giiil. Wilt thou part us ? 

Gar. I hold no speech with heretics and traitors. 
. Lieutenant, see my orders are obey'd. 

Guil. Inhuman, monstrous, unexampled cruelty ! 
Oh tyrant ! but the task becomes thee well : 
Thy savage temper joys to do death's office, 
To tear the sacred bands of love asunder, 
And part those hands which Heav'n itself hath join'd. 

Duch. To let us waste the little rest of life 
Together had been merciful. 

Suf. Then it had not 
Been done like Winchester. 

Guil. Thou stand'st unmov'd ; 
Calm temper sits upon thy beauteous brow ; 
Thy eyes, that flow'd so fast for Edward's loss, 
Gaze unconcern'd upon the ruin round thee, 
As if thou hadst resolved to brave thy fate, 
And triumph in the midst of desolation. 

Lachj J. And dost thou think, my Guildford, I can see 
My father, mother, and ev'n thee, my husband, 
Torn from my side, without a pang of sorrow ? 
How art thou thus unknowing in my heart ? 
Words cannot tell thee what I feel : there is 
An agonizing softness busy here 



282 LADY JANE GREY, 

That tugs the strings, that struggles to get loose, 
And pour my soul in wailings out before thee. 

Guil. Give way, and let the gushing torrent come ; 
Behold the tears we bring to swell the deluge, 
Till the flood rise upon the guilty world, 
And make the ruin common. 

Lady J. Guildford ! no ; 
The time for tender thoughts and soft endearments 
Is fled away and gone ; joy has forsaken us ; 
Our hearts have now another part to play ; 
They must be steel'd with some uncommon fortitude, 
That fearless we may tread the paths of horror, 
And, in despite of fortune and our foes, 
Ev'n in the horn- of death be more than conquerors. 

Guil. Oh teach me ! say, what energy divine 
Inspires thy softer sex and tender years 
With such unshaken courage ? 

Lady J. Truth and innocence ; 
A conscious knowledge rooted in my heart, 
That to have saved my country was my duty. 
Yes, England, yes, my country ! I would save thee ; 
But Heav'n forbids, Heav'n disallows my weakness, 
And to some dear selected hero's hand 
Reserves the glory of thy great deliverance. 

Lieut. My lords, my orders 

Guil. See ! we must — must part ! 

Lady J. Yet surely we shall meet again. 

Guil. Fain would I cheer my heart with hopes like these, 
But my sad thoughts turn ever to the grave, 
To that last dwelling whither now we haste ; 
Where the black shade shall interpose betwixt us, 
And veil thee from these longing eyes for ever. 

Lady J. 'Tis true, by those dark paths our journey leads, 
And through the vale of death we pass to life : 
But what is there in death to blast our hopes ? 
Behold the universal works of nature, 
Where life still springs from death. 
Mark with what hopes upon the furrow'd plain 



AND HER TIMKS. 



283 



The careful ploughman casts the pregnant grain ; 

There hid, as in a grave, awhile it lies, 

Till the revolving season bids it rise, 

Then large increase the buried treasures yield, 

And with full harvest crown the plenteous field. 




LADY JANE GREY, 



SECTION VI. 



Heview of Lady Jane's Misfortunes — and of her Conduct under 
them — Anecdotes of her Imprisonment — Committal of North- 
umberland to the Tower — Submission of the Council — Fur- 
ther Arrests — Arrival of the Princess Elizabeth— Release of 
Suffolk — Diplomatic Occurrences, &c. — Mary enters the Me- 
tropolis and Tower in Triumph — Joy of the Catholics — Public 
Opposition to the Revival of Popery — Tame Submission of Ce- 
cil, and others — Trial of the Duke of Northumberland and 
various Friends — Anecdotes, &c. — Their Execution — Mary's 
avaricious and ungenerous Conduct towards Lady Jane — 
Seizure and Claims of Crown Jewels, &c. — Trial and Con- 
demnation of Lady Jane and Lord Guildford Dudley, Cran- 
mer, and others — Anecdotes, &c. &c. 



We have already offered a suggestion, drawn from 
the general view of the case, that if Elizabeth had been 
called to the throne, in opposition to Mary, the success 
of the attempt would have been more certain than with 
regard to Lady Jane^ elevation to regal dignity ; in 
consonance with which we may notice, that one reason 
for the ill success of Lady Jane is stated by Lloyd to 
have sprung from " a natural antipathy in Englishmen 
against usurpation, and as great an inclination for the 
succession. A point they had conned so well of late 



AND NEK TIMES. 285 

out of the statute made for that purpose, that they 
could not well be put out of it by this newe started 
designed 

Happy would it indeed have been for her, had her 
relatives been influenced more by a love for the Re- 
formation, and a desire for the welfare of the kingdom, 
than by motives of personal ambition ; she would then 
not only have been saved, at least, great part of her 
own misfortunes, but would also have avoided seeing 
them increased by the downfal of her family, by the 
imprisonment of her own relatives, of her husband, his 
father, nay, his whole family, and of many of the no- 
bility and gentry, all made prisoners in her cause. To 
all this, however, she rose superior ; not through want 
of sensibility, but from the aid of true religion and 
genuine piety. 

Her conduct on this change of fortune is quaintly 
but well described by Fuller, who says, that she made 
misery itself amiable by her pious and patient be- 
haviour ; adversity, her night clothes, bearing her, as 
well as her day dressing, by reason of her pious dis- 
position. 

Burnet also, in his History of the Reformation, de- 
scribing her conduct after this reverse of fortune, says, 
that with all her advantages of birth and parts, yet 
she was so humble, so gentle, and pious, that all people 
both admired and loved her, and none more than the 
youthful Edward. He adds, that she had a mind won- 



286 



LADY JANE GKEY, 



derfully raised above die world; and at the age wherein 
others are but imbibing the notions of philosophy, she 
had attained to the practice of the highest precepts of 
it : for she was neither lifted up with the hope of a 
crown, nor cast down when she saw her palace made 
afterwards her prison ; but carried herself with an 
equal temper of mind in those great inequalities of 
fortune that so suddenly exalted and depressed her. 

In fact, during her subsequent imprisonment, all 
the regret she expressed was of the noblest kind, and 
a mark of a most tender and generous nature ; being 
more affected with the sufferings of her husband and 
father than with her own. 

She was now, to all intents, a state prisoner ; as were 
also the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk, and her hus- 
band, Lord Guildford : not, perhaps, in strict incar- 
ceration, yet certainly in separate apartments. At that 
period Beauchamp's tower was the general place of 
confinement for cases of high treason : but Lady Jane 
was lodged in one of the warders 1 houses — in " Maister 
Partridge's," as stated in a curious old book quoted by 
Mr. Nichols in his Leicestershire. There she was 
permitted to retain two of her female attendants ; and 
on the next day, the 20th of July, she was called upon 
by the Marquess of Winchester, lord treasurer, to de- 
liver up all the crown jewels, which she did accord- 
ingly, or, at least, as many of them as were then in 
her possession ; for we shall find presently that Mary 



AND HER TIMES, 287 

brought charges for several not given up, but which 
were probably lost, perhaps pilfered, in the confusion 
of such a scene. 

Within the walls of the Tower all was now silent and 
solitary — without all was political intrigue and bustle. 

The council next assembled at Westminster, from 
whence they sent a herald with another letter to the 
Duke of Northumberland, commanding and charging 
him in the name of Queen Mary to disarm and to dis- 
band his troops, forbidding him also to return to the 
city of London until the queen's pleasure should be 
known. Similar letters were sent to the Marquess of 
Northampton, and to all other gentlemen that were with 
him. The council even went so far as to direct the 
herald to proclaim in all places, that if the Duke of 
Northumberland did not submit to Queen Mary, he 
should be taken as a traitor, and that he should be 
proceeded against with the utmost rigour of prose- 
cution. 

Thus, adds Strype, " the duke saw it in vain to 
oppose, and so submitted to this order : and the part 
that his ambition had been framing so long, and with 
so much art, fell on a sudden." 

A letter, in the collection already quoted, and dated 
the 22d of July, in reference to those passing occur- 
rences, observes, that " the Duke of Northumberland 
hathe proclaymed my Lady Marye's grace queene at 
Cambridge ; and as the brute (report, bruit) goethe, 



288 LADY JANK GllEY, 

my Lorde of Huntingdone and the Lorde Marques 
of Northampton are gonne no man canne tell whether. 1 ' 
All were indeed eager to make their peace with 
Mary; some boasting of their unbroken loyalty, others 
endeavouring to excuse the countenance which they 
had given, by their presence in the Tower, whether 
voluntary or not, to the short usurpation. Perhaps 
the best picture of all this policy will be found in the 
letter written to Mary by the lords of the council, on 
the evening of her proclamation : 

" Our bounden duties most humbly remembred to 
yur most excellent majs tie , it may lyke the same to 
understande, that wee yur most humble, faythfull, 
and obedient subjects haveing all ways (God wee take 
to wytnes) remaynd yur highnes true and humble 
subjects in our harts, ever sythens the deathe of our 
late souvraigne lorde and master, yur highnes brother, 
whom God pardon; and seeing hitherto no possibil- 
litie to utter our determination herin, without great t 
destructions and bludeshedd, bothe of ourselves and 
others till this tyme, have this day proclaymed in your 
citey of London, your maj tie to bee our true naturall 
souvraigne, liege ladie and queen, most humblic be- 
seech yng your maj tlc to pdon and remytt our former 
infirmites, and most graciouslie t ? accept our meanynge, 
w ch haue byne ever to serve your highnes tiulie, and 
yt shall remayne with all our powers and forces to the 



AND IIEH TIMES. - (< >i) 

effusion of our bludde. Theis berars, our very good 
lords the Erie of Arundell and L. Pagett, can and bee 
redy now particularly to declare to whome, it may 
please your excellent maj tie , to give firme credence; 
and thus wee do and shall dayly pray to Allmighty 
God for the preservation of your most royall pson long 
to reigne .... from your maj ties citye of London this 
.... day of Julie, the fyrst yere of your most pro- 
sperous reigne." 

There were still a few, however, who had either 
sinned past all probable hope of pardon, or whose prin- 
ciples would not permit them to change with the times ; 
but even of these some few were allowed to go at 
large, for as early as the 23d of July, it appears that 
Mary and her partisans found it necessary to adopt a 
semblance of mercy and moderation. It is stated in 
an extract of another letter, that " the Lord Admirall, 
and the Lords Greye, Garret, Wenman, and the Lord 
Fitzwarren, Sir Henry Sydney, and Sir James Crosse, 
with dieveres others, have alredy their pardon graunted 
them. The Duke of Northumberland is in custodie of 
the garde as a prisoner in Cambridge, and my ladie 
hys wyfe, the Lord Guilford, and the Lady Jane, are 
in the Towere as prisoneres ; my Lord Marques of 
Northampton, the Earle of Huntingdune, Sir Henry 
Gates, and diveres other cannot as yet gett their 
pdones." 



290 LADY JANE (iREY, 

Some of these, indeed, it was not intended to par- 
don ; so that on the 25th, Northumberland and several 
others, particularly his eldest son, the Earl of Warwick, 
his younger sons, Lord Ambrose and Lord Henry, 
Sir Andrew Dudley, his brother, the Earl of Hunt- 
ingdon, Sir Thomas Palmer, Sir John Gates and his 
brother Henry, and Doctor Edwin Sands, were all 
committed prisoners to the Tower, along with their 
unhappy friends. 

Of these the Earl of Huntingdon was soon dis- 
charged; the Earl of Warwick died in prison, but 
Lord Ambrose was pardoned; Sir Andrew Dudley 
was condemned to death, but pardoned ; and Sands, 
being discharged, retired to Germany, from whence 
he returned in happier times, and died Archbishop of 
York. 

On the 26th of July the Marquess of Northampton 
was committed to the Tower ; was afterwards tried, 
but received a royal pardon. With him were also 
brought in the Bishop of London, Ridley, afterwards 
liberated, but subsequently burned at Oxford for he- 
resy ; and Robert Dudley, a younger son of Northum- 
berland, soon after pardoned, and living to be created 
Earl of Leicester by Queen Elizabeth, in which charac- 
ter he has recently figured, though not much to his 
advantage, in the novel of Kenil worth. 

It is rather remarkable that Suffolk, if indeed the 
fact really is so, should have been hitherto at large, at 



AND HER TIMES. 291 

least not a close prisoner, until the 27th, for on that 
day he is stated, by various authorities, to have been 
first committed to the Tower. 

If this is correct, his imprisonment may have been 
now ordered, either by directions from Mary, or in ex- 
pectation of her immediate arrival in the metropolis ; 
in preparation for which the young Princess Elizabeth 
came to town two days afterwards, as stated in some 
letters already quoted. " The Lady Elizabeth's grace 
come, the 29th of July, to Somerset-place, well accom- 
panyed with gentlemen and otheres righte strongly, 
and theare she restede a nighte, and the morowe en- 
suinge she wente thoroghe Chepeside, to meet the 
queene's grace, to London wardes, who is looked for 
the 3 or 4 of Auguste." 

Though the Duchess of Suffolk was made a prisoner 
in the first instance, yet it is evident that she did not 
long remain so, as it is expressly stated by various 
authorities, that it was at her intercession Suffolk him- 
self was liberated from all restraint as early as the 31st 
of July ; but, though discharged from actual confine- 
ment, he was still under engagements to return to pri- 
son, whenever the queen should desire it. This inter- 
cession of the duchess must have been with the queen 
herself; for it is not likely that Suffolk would have 
received such grace from the Earl of Arundel, then 
constable of the Tower by Mary's appointment. In- 
deed, it is well known that Arundel never forgave 

d 2 



292 LADY J AXE GREY, 

Suffolk for the slight put upon him by the repudiation 
of his daughter to make way for his union with the 
Lady Frances Brandon ; it is probable, therefore, that 
Suffolk owed his liberation to the queen, but not so 
much from affection towards him, as from the general 
idea that seems to have been entertained of the weak- 
ness of his mind, especially in regard to state affairs. 

We have already shown the continental politics of 
the usurping party; and, though the emperor's du- 
plicity was no longer a matter of consequence, it may 
still be interesting to observe how soon he began to 
show his real intentions. We may therefore record, 
that on the 20th of July the commissioners at Brussels 
wrote in reply to the council *, that Charles V. was not 
pleased that Edward had declared the Lady Mary to 
be illegitimate, thus limiting the succession in opposi- 
tion to his father's will. It appears that Charles was so 
incensed at this, that the commissioners could not even 
procure an audience ; and he even delayed or evaded 
seeing Mr. Shelley, who had been sent over with an 
express message from the young queen. The emperor 
urged as a powerful objection to his acknowledgment 
of the Lady Jane, independent of the claims of the 
Lady Mary, that the young queen of Scotland, the 
ill-fated Mary, was then married to the Dauphin of 
France, which would naturally lead to claims on the 
part of the French court, in consequence of her su- 
* Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. 523. 



AND REB TIMES. 293 

perior claim, as descended from the eldest sister of 
Henry, whilst the Lady Jane was only descended from 
the youngest As to the claim of the Lady Mary, in 
opposition to that of the Lady Jane, he certainly pro 
fessed moderation : for he only asked that the point 
should be settled by parliament, expressing a wish at 
the same time that the Lady Mary should be married 
to some English nobleman, " so that the realme should 
remayne in governaunce of polecy and religion as it 
now is." How far he was sincere in this, at least in 
regard to religion, may well be doubted; but as to 
policy, it certainly was his wish to keep up his En- 
glish connexion ; indeed, he even manifested con- 
siderable jealousy in consequence of a Mr. Dudley 
having been sent on a diplomatic mission into France, 
supposing him to have been Sir Andrew Dudley, and 
" sent for some practise/ 1 

But the whole farce of duplicity, both on the parts 
of the emperor and the commissioners themselves, was 
speedily put an end to, by advices received of the change 
of politics in England ; so that on the 29th of July 
those gentlemen wrote to Queen Mary's council * to 
the following purport : 

u Pleasethe it your good lordshippes, — Wheare the 
Ladye Jane sent Mr. Shelley with letteres and credence 
to the emperor's maje tie , wee no we returne them, not 
* Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. 523, 46. 



294 LADY JANE GREY, 

havynge delyvered the sayd letteres, ne opened the 
same credence, for that it hath pleased God to call my 
Ladye Marye hir grace to the state and possessyone of 
the realme, according to the kynge's majestee her fa- 
theres laste wille and the lawes of the realme, wee 
beinge heare in greate discurrage for that wee cannot 
knowe the certentye off thes so great and weightie mat- 
teres but by the reporte of them heare. Moste humbly 
beseechyng yur lordshippes that wee may not onely 
be advertyzed of the same, but also that wee maye 
knowe hir maj tzes pleesure what wee shuld doe, wher- 
unto wee shall conforme ourselves most willingly ac- 

cordynge to our most bounden dutye ; for newes, 

the Bushoppe of Norwych, Sir Phillippe Hobby, and 
Sir Richard Mason, to the Counsell the xxixth of 
July, 1553." 

We have already stated, that Lady Jane's father 
received an order of release from imprisonment, but on 
his own bail, on the 31st of July; and in a private 
letter of that period, of the 2d of August, we find it 
expressly stated — " On Monday last, the Duke of Suf- 
folk was discharged out of the Tower ;" yet another 
letter, dated the 11th of the same month, says, " The 
Duke of Suffolk is (as his owne men report) in prison, 
and at this present in suche case as no man judgeth 
he can live.'" 

To reconcile these apparent contradictions is not 



AND HER TIMES. 295 

easy, unless we suppose that the duke's illness pre- 
vented him, on receiving the order of release, from 
leaving the Tower for his own residence : and, of 
course, that his remaining in that fortress was con- 
sidered as imprisonment by those who were not aware 
of the queen's determination in his favour. 

The day of Mary's arrival was now approaching, for 
which every possible preparation was made both by 
court and city. Grafton, in his Chronicle, describes 
this event in very few words, merely saying, that " she 
came to the citie, and so to the Tower, where the 
Lady Jane of Suffolk, with her husband, the Lord 
Guilforde, a little before her coming, were committed 
to warde, and there remayned almost five monethes. r> 

But her progress is more fully detailed in a letter 
now in the British Museum, which speaks of her " be- 
inge broughte in with hir nobles very honorably and 
strongly : the number of velvet coats that did ride be- 
fore hir, as well strangeres as otheres, was 740 ; and 
the nomber of ladyes and gentlemen that followede was 
180. The Earle of Arundell did ride nexte befoare 
hir, bearinge the swoarde in his hand, and Sir An- 
thony Browne did beare up his trayne. The Ladye 
Elizabethe did followe hir nexte; and after hir the 
Lord Marques of Exetere's wyfe. 

" The gard followed the ladyes, and after them 
Northampton and Oxfordshir men, and then Bucking- 
hamshir men, and after them the lords servants ; the 



296 



LADY JANE GREY, 



whole nomber of horsemen wear esteemed to be about 
10,000." 

It then goes on to state, that " the queene's grace 
stayd in Allgate streete, befoare the stage wheare the 
poore children stood, to hare an oration that one of 
them made ; but she sayd nothinge to them. My Lord 
Mayor and the aldermen brought her grace into the 
citti; my Lord Mayor riding next to the Earle of 
Arrundell with the mase in his hand." 

To illustrate the manners of the times we may be 
permitted further to insert the description given by 
Stephen Perlin, a French ecclesiastic, and an eye wit- 
ness; who, though extremely inaccurate in historical 
information, as appears in another passage, may be 
supposed correct as to dress and pageantry. He says, 
that " in the mean time the queen made her public 
entry into London in great state and magnificence, 
the citizens'* children walking before her magnificently 
dressed; afterwards followed gentlemen, habited in 
velvets of all sorts, some black, others in white, yellow, 
violet, and carnation ; others wore satins or taffety, 
and some damasks of all colours, having plenty of gold 
buttons ; afterwards followed the mayor of the city, 
with several handsome companies, and the chiefs or 
masters of the several trades ; after them the milors, 
richly habited, and the most considerable knights; 
next come the ladies, married and single, in the midst of 
whom was madam Mary, Queen of England, mounted 



AND HER TIMES. 297 

on a small white ambling nag, the housings of which 
were fringed with gold thread ; about her were six lac- 
queys, habited in vests of cloth of gold. The queen 
herself was dressed in violet coloured velvet, and was 
then about forty years of age, and rather fresh coloured. 
Before her were six lords bareheaded, each carrying in 
his hand a golden mace, and some others bearing the 
arms and crown. Behind her followed the archers, as 
well of the first as the second guard. 

" Those of the first guard were clothed in scarlet, 
bound with black velvet, and on their escutcheons they 
had a golden rose, which is called in English Rose peni, 
and under this rose was a golden crown, with high 
leaves, in form of an imperial crown. The second 
guard were clothed in scarlet, bound with black velvet, 
and on their escutcheons was interwoven a true-lover's 
knot, and an E in the middle, and on the other side an 
R, done in order to make a distinction between the 
two guards. She was followed by her sister, named 
Madame Elizabeth, in truth, a beautiful princess, who 
was also well accompanied by ladies, both married and 
single. Then might you hear the firing of divers 
pieces of artillery, bombards, and cannons, and many 
rejoicings made in the city of London." 

The unhappy Jane, in her lonely cell, was soon ap- 
prized of the approach of her rival in regal state to- 
wards the place of her confinement, so late her palace ; 



298 LADY JANE GREY, 

for the letter already alluded to says, " theare was a 
greate peale of ordinance shotte off at the Towere ;" 
and it goes on to state, " It is credibly reported that 
the Duke of Norfolke, Courteney, the Bishope off 
Winchestre, and my Lady Somerset mette the queenes 
grace at the Towere gate, and theare they kneelynge 
downe saluted her grace, and she came unto them, and 
kissed them and sayd, theis are my prisoners ;" — this, 
however, must have been in jest, for the same letter 
immediately adds, " Courteney was made Marques of 
Exetere the 4 of this presente ,, — which was only a day 
after. Amongst these prisoners were Bishops Tunstal 
and Gardiner, and others not so high in rank, whom 
she liberated ; but with Lady Jane she held no com- 
munication, 

Mary's regal state in the Tower seems to have sat 
but uneasy upon her; the same letter saying, " Hir 
grace intendethe to remove unto Windsore one Tus- 
daye nexte, as I heare saye." And the jealousy which 
pervaded her mind may be drawn from the following 
statement : 

" The Earle of Pembroke was comaundid to wait 
upon hir grace when she came to London, and to bringe 
with him but x men ; and, as I heare saye, he broughte 
xv, whearefoare he had a rebuke. Some saye he is fled, 
but the truthe I know not. He hathe not byne scene 



AND HER TIMES. 299 

since Thirsday nyghte, nether can his men tell wheare 
hee is. My Lord Russell and my Lord Ferrares are 
in the Sherife of London's custody.". 

But though she still felt considerable doubts of sup- 
port at home, expectations of foreign assistance were 
more secure ; yet even there she speedily contemplated 
some change, at least with regard to her diplomatic 
residents, notwithstanding the readiness with which the 
commissioners had turned round, on hearing of her 
success, with respect to Lady Jane's fall from regal 
power. 

The despatch which announced this change of men 
and measures is such a curious specimen of intrigue, 
duplicity, and policy, depriving the commissioners of 
their offices, yet apparently fearful of offending, or of 
alarming them, that we shall give it entire, as the first 
fruits of that double-faced system of mental reservation 
so accordant with the spirit of the revived religious 
politics of that day ; for in Mary's reign religion and 
politics were never separated. 

" Aftere our most hartye comandacones Albeit you 
shall understand bothe by the queenes highnes in- 
structions and otherwise by declaracon of this bearrer 
Sir Thomas Cheyney, Knighte of the Order, Trea- 
surere of his maj te household and warden of the fyve 
portes, her graces pleasure touchynge the placing of 



300 LADY JANE GREY, 

you the Bushope of Norwiche to be hir highnes am- 
bassadore resydente with the emperor, and also touch- 
ynge the revocasyon of you, Mr. Hobby and Mr. 
Morysone, yet hathe her highnes willed us also by thes 
our letteres to sygnyfie unto you that consyderinge 
the long aboade and the small freite that hathe hither 
unto ensued of your traville, her highnes thinkethe 
expedyente that you Mr. Hobby and Mr. Morysone 
shold returne to her highnes presense, and att the 
takynge off your leave, her highnes specyally requirethe 
you to say that yff her highnes dide see or myghte 
understande any lyklyhoode that your longer aboade 
myghte bring forthe any fruit for that godly purpos 
you weare sente for, shee wold be most glade not 
onelye to haue you contynue but wold most redylye 
send some other psonage joined with you for the treaty 
and conductynge the same towards a good conclusyn ; 
but consyderynge that hitherto it hathe not pleased 
Almighty God to moue the harte of them to concorde, 
she dothe therfore revoke you for this tyme remayn- 
ynge, neverthelesse most redie to send either you or 
some otheres for that purpos when shee may under- 
stande the tyme to serve bettere for that purpos and 
usynge suche good wordes as you may thinke better to 
declare hir highnes most earneste desyre bothe to the 
continuance off the amytie and pacifyinge off theis 
warres. You Mr. Hobby and Mr. Morysone shall 
with dilligence repair to hir highnes presense, and you 



AND HER TIMES. 301 

the Bushoppe of Norwiche shall attend your charge 
of hir graces ambassadore residente accordinge to hir 
highnes instructyones and spessyall truste reposed in 
you, advertysing hir maj te from tyme to tyme of suche 
occurrants as may seeme worthie knowledge. And so 
wee byd you most hartelye farewell. From the Tower 
of London, the 5 h daye of August, 1553. Subscribed 

by 

Arundell. Steven Winton. 

Jo. Wentworth. R. Riche. W. Paget." 

Robt. Rochester. R. Southwell. 

W. Peetor. 

A few days afterwards a letter was also written by 
the new queen's council, signed by Bedford and Shrews- 
bury, to certain commissioners, to continue Dr. Wootton 
as ambassador at the court of France. 

The joy of the catholics on the accession of Mary 
may be drawn from the observations of Stephen Perlin, 
the French ecclesiastic already quoted, who says that 
the queen " caused the images to be replaced, and 
brought back the service to the Latin language, and 
made several proclamations, edicts, and prohibitions 
throughout all England, against eating of flesh on 
Fridays and Saturdays, on pain of being hanged and 
strangled. And then you might have seen those which 
had been bishops, who had been displaced by the young 
King Edward, and his late father Henry, coming in 



302 LADY JANE GREY, 

great joy and magnificence about the town, mounted on 
mules and little pompous horses, dressed in great gowns 
of black camlet, over which were beautiful surplices 5 
their heads covered with satin hoods, like those worn 
by the monks, being joyous on account of the queen's 
victory. 1 ' 

In these new arrangements the queen and her par- 
tisans were rather too hasty ; for, notwithstanding that 
the great body of the people were as yet far from 
being well grounded in the reformed faith, and not- 
withstanding all the joy expressed by the people in 
favour of her accession, it is evident that the public 
opinion was by no means in consonance with her re- 
ligious sentiments. The same correspondence already 
quoted states, that on the 11th of August " an ould 
preeste sayd masse at St. Bartholmewes ; but after 
that masse was done, the people wold have pulled 
him in pieces ;" and, on the 13th, when Mary went 
to St. Paul's to hear mass, and a sermon preached by 
Bourne, a violent catholic, such was the public feel- 
ing, or at least the sentiments of some, that a dagger 
was thrown at the preacher with such force, though 
uncertain direction, that it stuck fast in a side post of 
the pulpit. 

We shall describe the scene from Perlin, already 
quoted, who, although a catholic, and, as his work 
shows, strongly embued with prejudices against Eng- 
land, yet seems to speak the truth in many points, as 



AND HER TIMES. 303 

far as his own marked ignorance and conceit will per- 
mit him. Of this first visit to St. Paul's he says, " the 
queen, being in triumph and royal magnificence in 
her palace and castle of Oycemestre, (Westminster) 
took it into her head to go to hear mass at Paules, 
that is to say, at the church of S 6 Paul, and she was 
attended by six hundred guards, besides the Cere, 
that is to say, the servants of both ' lors 1 and nobles. 
In English, the word lors means lords. The milors 
are princes of the council, and those nearly allied to 
the crown ; these we in French barbarously call mi- 
lours, but in English they are styled milors, as those 
well know who have visited this country, and speak 
good English. These servants carried halberts. It 
happened that an Englishman, during mass, threw a 
dagger at the priest, making a great tumult; mass 
not having been celebrated in this country for six or 
seven years. This man was immediately seized, in- 
dicted, and tried, and on the spot instantly condemned 
to death. There was also in my time another disturb- 
ance in a little church in the borough of Southwark, 
respecting a priest, who narrowly escaped being killed 
whilst saying mass. The queen made use of such 
horrible punishments, and by the effusion of blood so 
established her authority, that every body was asto- 
nished and terrified at remaining in the kingdom. 1 "' 
But we anticipate ; let us therefore return to the 20th 
of August, when Dr. Watson was appointed to preach 
at St. Paul's, but afraid to ascend the pulpit without a 



LADY JANE GREY, 

strong guard to keep off the audience, some of whom 
he suspected, from Bourne's affair, might perhaps be- 
come actors. 

Of this we find the following curious relation in the 
correspondence so often alluded to : " One Sundaye 
last was a sermone at Pole's Crosse, made by one 
Doctor Watsone. Theare was at this sermone the 
Marques of Winchestre, the Earle of Bedforde, the 
Earle of Pembroke, the Lord Wentworth, the Lord 
Riche ; they did sitte wheare my lord mayor and the 
aldermen wear wonte to sette : my lord maiere sittinge 
uppermoste. Thear was also in the windowe over the 
mayor the ould Bushoppe of London and diveres 
otheres. Thear was 120 of the gard that stoode 
round about the crosse, with their halberdes, to gard 
the preachere, and to apprehende them that would 
stirre. His sermone was no more eloquent than edi- 
fieing ; I mene it was nether eloquent nor edifieinge in 
my opinione, for he medled not withe the gospelle nor 
epistle, nor noe parte of scripture. After he had red 
his theame, he entred into a by mattere, and so spente 
his tyme. 4 or 5 of the cheefe pointes of his sermone 
that I cane remember I will as breefly as I can reporte 
unto you, vilz. he requirede the people not to beleeve 
the preacheres, but that ther faithe should be firme 
and shure, because there is suche varieties amongeste 
them ; and iff any man doubte of his faithe, let him 
goe to the scriptures, and also to the olde interpret- 
eres of the same, and interprit it not aftere their owne 



AND UK 11 TIMES. 305 

brayne. He wished the people to have no newe 
faithe, nor to bulde no newe temple, but to keepe the 
olde faithe, and reedifye the old temple againe. He 
blamed the people in a maner for that heartofoare they 
would haue nothinge that was manes tradisshon, and 
no we they can be contentyd to have manes tradisshon, 
shewinge that in the firste yeare of the raigne of our 
soveraigne lorde King Edward the 6, theare was a lawe 
established, that in the sacrament thear was the bodie 
and bloode of Christe, not really but spirituallie, and 
the next yeare after they established another lawe, 
that thear was the body of Christe nether spiritually 
nor really. Thes 2 in themselves are contraryes, 
thearfore they cannot be bothe trewe. He shewed 
that we should ground our faithe uppon God's word, 
which is scripture, and scripture is the byble, which 
wee have' in Hebrue, Greeke, and Latinne, and nowe 
translated into English ; but he doubtethe the trans- 
latyon was not true. Also he sayd theare hathe byne 
in his tyme that he hathe seen xx catechesemes, and 
everi one varinge from other in some pointe, and well 
he sayd they might be all false, but they could not be 
true ; and thus psuadin the people that they had fol- 
lowed menes tradisshones, and had gonne astraye; 
wishin them to come home agayne and reedefy the 
olde temple. Thus, with many other pswasiones, he 
spente the tyme tyll xi of the clocke, and ended.*" 
These persuasions, however, had little effect ; and 



30G LADY JANE GREY, 

another mode was tried. — "Diveres marchantes to the 
number of 14 or 15, were by the counsells comaunde 
to come to the queenes chappell, and theare to tarrye 
tyll masse was done." 

Another letter, speaking of Watson's preaching, 
says, " Upon Sundaye, the 20 off Auguste, theare 
preached at Poules Crose one named Walles : and to 
keepe and preserve him from the enemyes, theare 
weare with their holbordes about 200 of the garde ; the 
lyke was never seene ; and as for altres and masses, are 
in buildinge faster than ever they weare put downe." 

Another letter of the 1st of September says, that 
" all the altres at Poules are up, and all the oulde 
service sayd in Lattin; and almost throughout Lon- 
don the same." Yet it was not without some struggle, 
apparently, on the part of the protestant, or reformed 
divines ; for the same letter adds, that " the Bushop 
of Canterbury, Hooper, the Bushop of London, and 
diverse other, are together in disputacyon dayly at 
their owne houses ; but what is done amongeste them I 
cannot learne." And, a day or two after, appears the 
following passage : 

" At London is kept diveres disputacyones in the 
consistorye place in Poules, with the bushopes. Bu- 
shop Cox must dispute on mondaye nexte in the same 
place, upon diveres articles; but what they bee I 
cannot yet learne. 

" The masse is very riffe. 



AND HER TIMES. -307 

" By turninge the bookes of the Guildhall, I have 
founde theare was comaundmente gevene from the 
mayere to the aldermene of every warde to call befoare 
them the preeste of every parish churche within theare 
wardes, and to geve them in comaundemente that they 
should not preache nor reade any scripture or other 
lectures, other than the devine service appoyntede, 
tyll they heare furthere." 

In the midst of these scenes of alarm to the friends 
of the reformation, Queen Mary's friends prided them- 
selves much upon their loyalty towards her ; and one 
of them, by the name of Richard Trough ton, a Lin- 
colnshire man, addressed a memoir to the privy coun- 
cil; perhaps one of the most curious political docu- 
ments in existence, and indeed a fair prototype of the 
well known " P. P. clerk of the parish." It is in the 
British Museum*, but much too long for insertion 
here ; one short extract must therefore suffice. 

" Hit may plese yo r honorable lordeshypis to be 
advysed that upon wensday the xi th day of July, in 
the firste yere of the moste gracious raign of the 
quenes majestie, I Richard Troughton, of South 
Walshen, in the countie of Lincoln, and John Dove, 
constable of the same towne, the saide day and yere 
standinge together at the comon watering place then 
called hedgedyke, lately scoured for catall to drink att, 
that I the said Troughton called on James Prate to 

* Harl. Coll. No. 6222. 

v o 



308 LADY JANE GREY, 

me, which Pratte was newe come whome, and asked 
of hyme howe he liked the newe scowered wartering 
place; and he answered well, and desyred God to 
thank the doers therof for hit was the best dede, said 
he, that he knewe done in that towne many yeres 
before. And afterwards the same Prate alsked me 
what newes I had harde of Kynge Edwarde ; and I 
answered hym none at all ; and Prate said the kynge 
was dede, and that I knewe well enough ; and I de- 
ny ed hit, for I knew hit not at that tyme in dede. 
Wherfor I demaunded of hyme howe hee dyd knowe 
his graces to be departed? And he said it was to 
trewe, for the queues hynes was flede into Northefolke, 
and lay at Mr. Hurlstones house by the waye. Than 
I said, O worthe Kynge William that ever he was 
borne; speaking thes wordes by the late Duke of 
Northumberland, who was causer of the quenes flying, 
for his father was a treator, and he was a very wyllayn, 
and his father wold have kylled the kyngs father, 
Kynge Henry the Eighte, and the good kynge was 
departed by lyke. That o worthe the same willayn 
that ever he was borne, for I fred he wold go aboughte 
to destroye the noble blode of Ingland, wherfor I 
drewe out my dagger in the syghte of the said John 
Dove and Jamys Prate, and wisshed hit at the wyl- 
layns hart with my hande att hit, as harde as I culde 
thruste psently face to face, and body to body, what 
so ever be came of my body, and desyred Gods plage 



A XI) HER TIMES. 309 

to lyghte upon hyme, and that he niyghte have a 
shorte lyfe : and preyed God to saue the quene^s ma- 
jestie, and to delyver hir grace from hym. Wherupon 
the said Dove plucked me secretly by the coat, and s d 
he wold speke with me; and so we went away from 
Prate. And Dove advysed me to beware what I said 
agaynste the duke, for I knewe that Prate was not my 
frende, and that he wold make the woorst of hit. I 
answered Dove, with my dagger drawn, agayne re- 
hersyng the words above mencyoned. I have said hit, 
and I wulle saye hit wylls I lyve. And further I 
said, that Dove shulde see hyme sortely come to his 
fatheres deth, for his father was behedded, and soe I 
trusted he shulde be or his was longe to. And so 
being a sorrowfull man for the troble, I departed, and 
bade theym farewell at the time." 

Mr. Trough Ion then proceeds " to tell his story thus" 
through many pages, often repeating his oaths and 
drawing his dagger in threats against Northumber- 
land. 

But it was not in the humble walks of life alone 
that vanity and time-serving were conspicuous; for 
many names, now illustrious, might be adduced as in- 
stances of unmanly bending to the storm. 

This double-minded, or rather cowardly part, 
which some of the principal agents performed in this 
affair, cannot perhaps be more fully illustrated than 
in " a brefF note of my submission, and declaracion of 



310 LADY JANE GREY, 

my doings/' written by Sir W. Cecill, and preserved 
in the Lansdown MSS. in the Brit. Mus. No. 104. 2. 

" 1. First, my submission with all lowlynes that my 
harte can conceive. 

" 2. My misliking of the matter when I herd it 
secretly ; wheruppon I made conveyance awaye of my 
landes, pte of my goodes, my leases, and my raye- 
ment. 

" 3. I also determyned to suffer, for saving my con- 
science, wherof the witnesses Sir Anthony Cooke, Ni- 
cholas Bacon, Esq. Laurence Eresby of Louthe, eleven 
of my sute, Roger Alford, and William Cayewood. 

"4. Of my ppose to stand against the matter, be 
also witnesses Mr. Petre and Mr. Cheke. 

" 5. I did refuse to subscribe the booke, when none 
of the counsell did refuse : in what perill I refer it to 
be considered by the who know the duke. 

" 6. I refused to make a proclamation : and turned 
the labour to Mr. Throckmorton, whose conscience I 
sawe was troobled therwith, misliking the matter. 

" 7. I eschewed the wrytyng of the queene's highnes 
bastard, and therefore the duke wrote the Ire himself, 
wch was sett forth in the realme. 

" 8. I eschewed to be at the drawing of the pro- 
clamation for the publishing of the usurper's title, being 
specially appoyted therto. 

" 9. I avoyded the answer of the queene's highnes 
Ire. 



AND HEK tlMEi. 311 

" 10. I avoyded also the wry tinge of all the public 
Ires to the realme. 

" 11. I wrote no Ire to the L. Lawerr as I was 
comaded. 

" 12. I dissebled the taking of my horse, and the 
rysinge of Lincolnshyre, and Northamptonshyre, and 
avowed the pardonable lye where it was suspected to 
my dang 1 . 

" 13. I practised with the L. treasurer to wyn the L. 
pve seale, that I myght by the L. RusseFs meanes 
cause Wyndsore Castle to serve the quene ; and they 
11 to levy the west ptes for thequenes service. I have 
the L. treasorer's Ire to L. St. John, for to kepe me 
saffe if I cold not prvaile in the enterprize of Wyndsore 
Castle, and my name was fayned to be Hardinge. 

"14. I did oppose my selfe to y e Erie of Arundell, 
who I found therto disposed; and likewise I did the 
like to the L.Darcy, who herd me with good cotentacio, 
wherof I did imediately tell Mr. Petre, for both our 
comforte. 

"15. I did also determine to flee from them, if y e 
consultation had not taken effect, as Mr. Petre can tell, 
who meant the like. 

"16. I pposed to have stollen downe to the quenes 
highnes, as Mr. Goswold can tell, who offered to lede 
me thither, as I knewe not the waye. 

" 17. I had my horses redy at Lambeth for the 
ppose. 



312 LADY JANE grey, 

" 18. I procured a Ire from the lords that the 
queries tenants of Wybledon should not goe with Sir 
Thomas Caverden, and yet I never gaue one man 
warning so much as to be in a redynes, and yet they 
sent to me for the ppose, and I willed them to be 
quiett. I might as shurely there make for the quenes 
service an hundred men to serve. 

"19. When I sent into Lincolnshyre for my horses, 
I sent but for v horses and viii of my servants ; and 
charged y l none of my tenats should be styrred. 

•' 20. I caused my horses, being indede but xii, to 
be taken upp in Northaptoshyre, and the next daye 
following I cotermaded the agayne by my Ires, re- 
mayning in the cotry, and notoriosly ther knowne. 

" 21 . When this co spy racy w,as first oppened to me 
I did fully set me to flee the realme, and was dissuaded 
by Mr. Cheke, who willed me for my satisfaction to 
rede a dialoge of Plato, where Socrates, being in 
pson, was offred to escape and flee, and yet he wold 
not. I redd the dialoge, whose reasons indede did 
stay me. 

" Fynally, I beseeche hir highnes that in hir grace 
I maye fele some differece fro others that have more 
playnely offended, and yet be partakers of hir highnes 
boutiefulness and grace ; and if difference maye be made 
I do differ fro them who I served ; and also fro them 
that had libtye after there enforcement to depart, by 
meanes whereof they did both like noble me and true 



AND HER TIMES. 313 

subiects shew the dueties to their sovraign lady. The 
like wherof was my devotion to have done, if I might 
have had the like lifctye, as knoweth God, the sercher 
of all harts, whose indignation I call upon me if it be 
not true : 

" Justus adiutorius meus Dfios <\ salvos facit rectos 
cord : 

" God saue the queene in all faelicite. 

W. CECILL." 

In perfect unison with this conduct on the part of 
Cecill, is a fact trifling in itself, yet whimsical from its 
connexion with these events. In the Lansdown Col- 
lection, now in the British Museum, No. 1236, Ail. 
15, is a letter from Lady Jane to the Marquess of 
Northampton, announcing her entry into possession, &c. 
and requiring his allegiance, and defence of her title 
against what she calls " the fayned and untrewe clayme 
of the Lady Marye, bastard daughter to our great 
uncle Henry theight, of famous memory. 1 ' This letter 
is dated from the Tower, on the 10th of July, and 
appears to have come afterwards into the hands of 
Cecill, who has indorsed it, " Jane, non Regum," and 
carefully erased its superscription, but not in such a 
manner as to prevent its being read. It is not our 
wish, however, to be too severe upon that great states- 
man. Life is sweet to all men, and when the exposure of 
it to danger cannot be followed by any good results, al- 
lowances must be made. Still we cannot help observing, 



314 LADY JANE GREY, 

that if Cecill was the friend of Mary, he ought in the 
first instance to have braved the violence of North- 
umberland, both for loyalty and conscience sake. If 
he were not the friend of Mary, then he ought to have 
acted with more courage in favour of the cause which 
he had espoused, and thereby have saved himself, sup- 
posing the others equally intrepid, from the necessity of 
tergiversation and of denying his faith, whilst crouching 
to a tyrant, and to a tyrannical priesthood. 

But terror was the order of the day, and fear was its 
concomitant ; for though Mary affected clemency to- 
wards the great mass of her opponents, yet it was suf- 
ficiently known that she intended to make a striking 
example of some of the leaders. 

In fact, such was the public opinion in regard to that 
point, that we find a convincing proof of it in a letter of 
the date of the 5th of August, which says, " I hard saye 
this daye that the Duke of Northumberland, the Lord 
Marques of Dorset, of Northampton, the Earle of Hunt- 
ington, Sir John Gate, and Mr. Palmer, wear alredie 
condemned to die." 

This report was, indeed, rather premature ; but the 
fate of Northumberland was, perhaps, even then de- 
cided on, his trial and that of some others being ordered 
for the eighteenth of August. The whole proceedings 
are thus recorded in a book of the lords-stewards of 
England, and of the trials before them*. 

* Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. 2194, p. 22. 



AND HElt TIMKS. 315 

" Thomas, Duke of Norfolke, sitting as High- 
Steward of Englande, on the eighteenth 
day of August were brought before him, 
John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, 
William Parre, Marquesse of Northamp- 
ton, and the Earle of Warwicke, sonne to 
the Earle of Northumberland. 
" The Duke of Northumberland, at his cominge to 
the barre, used greate reverence towards the judges, 
and protestinge his ffaith and obedience to the queene's 
maty, whome he confessed greivously to have offended, 
he said, That he meant not to speake any thinge in 
defence of himselfe; but would first understand the 
opinion of the courte on two points. 

" First, whether a man dooinge an acte by the au- 
thority of the prince and counselle, and by warrant of 
the greate seale of England, and dooinge nothinge 
without the same, may bee charged for treasone for 
any thinge wch hee mighte doe by warrant thereof? 

" Secondly, whether any such psons as were equally 
culpable in that crime, and those by whose letres and 
commandements he was directed in all his dooinges 
might bee his judges, or passe upon his try all att his 
death ? 

" Whereunto was answered, that as concerninge the 
firste, the greate seale, wch hee layd for his warrant, 
was not the seale of the lawfull queene of the realme, 
nor passed by authority ; but the seale of an usurper, 
and therefore would bee noe warrant for him. 



316 LADY JANE GREY, 

" And to the second it was alleadged, that if any 
were as deepely to bee touched as himselfe in that case ; 
yet as longe as noe atteinder were of recorde against 
them, they were neverthelesse psones able in the lawe, 
to passe upon any try all, and not to be challenged 
therefore but att the princes pleasure. 

" After wch answere the duke usinge some wordes, 
declared his earneste repentance in the case (for hee 
saw that to stande upon utteringe any reasonable matter 
could little pvaile), and moved the Duke of Norfolke 
to bee a meanes unto the queene for mercy, and with- 
out fur there answeare confessed the indictment, by 
whose example alsoe the other prisoners arraigned wth 
him did likewise confesse the indictment produced 
against them, and therupon had judgement 

" The judgement being prounced, hee craved favor 
of such a death as was executed on noblemen, and not 
the other : hee beseeching alsoe that a favourable re- 
gard might bee had of his children in respect of theire 
age, and that hee might bee pmitted to conferre with 
some learned divine for the settlinge of his conscience ; 
and, lastly, that her ma tie would bee pleased to send 
unto him foure of her counsell for the discovery of some 
things which might conserne the state. 

" The Marquesse of Northampton pleaded to his in- 
dictment, That after the beginnings of these tumults 
he had forborne the execuson of any publique office, 
and that all the while hee, intente to huntinge and 
other sports, did not ptake in the conspiracy ; but it 



AND HER TIMES. 317 

being manifest that hee was pty with the Duke of 
Northumberland, sentence passed on him likewise. 

" The Earle of Warwicke fyndinge that the judges 
in soe greate a cause admitted noe excuse of age, wth 
greate resolucon heard his condemnacon pronounsed 
against him : cravinge only this favour, that whereas 
the goods of those who are condemned for treason are 
totally confiscated; yet her ma tie would bee pleased 
that out of them his debts might be payd. After this 
they were all returned to the Tower." 

We may add, from another authority, that when 
Dudley implored the mercy of the court, or rather of 
the queen, towards his unhappy children, he had the 
generosity and liberality to assure them that the Lady 
Jane, so far from aspiring to the crown, was rather 
" by enticement and force made to accept it !" 

This is a testimony, and a most forcible one too, of 
her good sense, which fully confirms what we have 
already stated in a former section. 

The public clamour and rejoicing upon North- 
umberland's condemnation were considered by the 
court party as an approval of their cause, when in 
fact they were merely produced by the personal un- 
popularity of the individual himself; for it must not 
be forgotten, that when the Duke of Somerset perished 
on the scaffold, in 1551, through the intrigues of 
Northumberland, as commonly supposed, the people 



--- 






:-- :■■-:. 



J-' ^ 



lean d 



i r-:, :: 










His name, in the spelling of the age. is under the de- 
vice ; and below are four lines, e\identlv punning upon 
his own misfortunes and bis brother Amhr 



TOW THAT TH 3 5TSDO! BEHOLD 

MAY DEME WITHE EAS I BE 

WITHE BORDERS EKE WHBRIN 

A BROTH B RS NA MES w 



320 



LADY JANE GREY, 



This device and inscription appear not to have been 
quite finished before he was led forth to execution; 
but on different sides of the apartment the word 




appears cut in the same manner. Mr. Brand very 
justly supposes this to be intended for the royal title 
of the amiable and unfortunate daughter-in-law of 
Northumberland ; and he remarks, that she had, per- 
haps, a latent meaning in this repetition of her signature 
Jane, by which she at once styled herself a queen, and 
intimated that not even the horrors of a prison could 
force her to relinquish that title. But such a feeling is 
not in consonance with facts which we have had occa- 
sion to record of her ; besides it is known that she was 
lodged in a different apartment, in the house of one 
Partridge, as already noticed. 

Indeed Mr. Brand remarks, that although it is stated 
in the Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons, vol. iv. 
p. 1 29, that on the wall of the room in which she was 



A XI) I IKK TIMES. 



321 



imprisoned in the Tower she wrote with a pin these 



" Non aliena putes homini quod obtingere possunt : 
Sors hodierna mihi eras erit ilia tibi." 

" To mortals' common fate they must resign, 
My lot to-day, to-morrow may be thine" 

yet no vestiges of such inscription were discovered 
in making the alterations in this apartment in Beau- 
champ's Tower; a circumstance perfectly compatible 
with her confinement in another place, and therefore 
verifying Mr. NichoPs supposition, that the name was 
thus written by Northumberland himself from ostenta- 
tion, or perhaps a better feeling; as the letters re- 
semble much those of his own autograph ; not only in 
the specimen already given, but in another. — 




Mary was determined to allow but little time to her 
victims ; for on the nineteenth, or the day after, the 
Duke of Northumberland received intelligence of his 
intended execution, on which he instantly sent the fol- 
lowing letter to the Earl of Arundel*: 



" Honble Lord, and in this my distress my especiall 
* Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. 787, p. 01. 



322 LADY JANE GREY, 

refuge, most wofull was the newes I receyved this 
evenynge by Mr. Lieutenant, that I must prepare my- 
selfe ag st to morrowe to receyve my deadly stroke. 
Alas, my good lord, is my cryme so heynous as noe 
redempson but my blood can washe awaye the spottes 
therof ? An old proverbe ther is, & y t most true, y t a 
lyving dogge is better than a dead lyon. Oh ! that it 
would please her good grace to give me life, yea the 
life of a dogge, if I might but lyve and kiss her feet, 
and spend both life and all in her honble services, as I 
have the best part already under her worthie brother, 
and most glorious father. Oh ! that her mercy were 
such as she would consyder how little proffitt my dead 
and dismemberd body can bringe her ; but how great 
and glorious an honor it will be in all posterities when 
the report shall be that soe gracious and mightie a 
queene had graunted life to soe miserable and penitent 
an object. Your honble usage and promise to me 
since these my troubles have made me bold to chal- 
lenge this kindnes at your handes. Pardon me if I 
haue done amiss therin, and spare not, I pray, your 
bended knees for me in this distresse. The God of 
Heaven, it may be, will requite one day, on you or 
yours. And if my life be lengthened by your mediacion, 
and my good Lord Chancellor's (to whom I haue also 
sent my blurred letters), I will ever owe it to be spent 
at your honble feet. Oh ! good my lord, remember 
how sweet life is, and how bitter the contrary. Spare 



AND HER TIMES, 323 

not your speech and paines, for God, I hope, hath not 
shutt out all hopes of comfort from me in that gracious, 
princely, and womanlike hart : but that as the doleful 
newes of death hath wounded to death both my soule 
and bodye, soe the comfortable newes of life shall be as 
a new resurrection to my wofull hart. But if no remedy 
can be founde, eyther by imprisonment, confiscation, 
banishment, and the like, I can saye noe more but 
God graunt me patyence to endure, and a heart to for- 
giue the whole world. 

Once your fell owe and lovinge companion, 
but now worthy of noe name but wretched- 
nes and misery. 

J. D." 

This application was of no avail ; so that we have only 
to record that the same Lord Steward's book, already 
quoted, further states, that " On the two and twentieth 
of the same moneth (Augt) the duke w th the rest, S r 
Thomas Palmer and S r John Gates, haveing two dayes 
before received the sacramente of the Lord's supper, 
were delivered to the SherifFes of London by S r John 
Gage, Lieutenaunte of the Tower; when the duke 
and Sir John Gates mett, ' S r John,' said the duke, 
' God haue mercy on us, for this day shall end both 
o r lives, and I pray you forgive mee whatsoever I 
haue offended, and I forgiue you with all my hearte. 

y 2 



S9A 



LADY JANE GREY, 



Although you and yo r counsell was a greate occasion 
therof.' ' Well, my lord,' quoth Sir John Gates, ' I 
forgiue you all, as I would be forgiven, and yet you 
and yo r authority was the originell cause of it alto- 
gether, but the lord pdon you and I pray you forgiue 
mee;' and soe either makinge obeysance to other 
the duke proceeded. And when he came upon the 
scaffold, puttinge of his gowne of swane coloured da- 
mask, leaned upon the easte rayle makeing his owne 
funerall oration to the people ; acknowledged himselfe 
guilty, and craveinge pdon for his unseasonable bold- 
nes and ambition, admonished the assembly that they 
should embrace the religion of their forefathers, re- 
jectinge that of latter date, wch had occasioned all the 
miseries of the aforepast thirty years, and for pvention 
of the future, if they desire to psent theire soules un- 
spotted unto the Lord, and were truly affected to theire 
countrey, they should expell those trumpets of sedition, 
the preachers of the reformed religion. As for him- 
selfe, whater hee might ptend, his conscience was 
fraught with the religion of his fathers, and for testi- 
mony herof he appealed to his greate freinde the Bishupp 
of Winchester : but being blinded with ambition, was 
contente to make wracke of his conscience, by tempo- 
rizing, for which hee professed himselfe sincerely pe- 
nitent, and acknowledged the desert of his death. 

Having spoaken thus muche lice craved the 



AND HER TIMES, 



325 



charitable devotions of the assembly, and com- 
mending his soule to God, prepared his body 
for the stroke of the axe. 11 

This testimony on the scaffold in favour of a return 
to the Roman Catholic religion is most extraordinary ; 
particularly when we add to it another fact, as positively 
asserted, in that private correspondence which we have 
had occasion so frequently to quote : 

" On Monday laste the Duke of Northumberland, 
the Marques of Northampton, Sir John Gates, and 
otheres hard masse verie devoutlie in the Towere, and 
theare receaved the sacrament even as they weare wonte 
40 yeares ago. 11 

This apparent compliance, however, with Mary's 
arbitrary commands, had but little effect as to the fate 
of these unhappy men ; for the same letter goes on to 
state, " This presente daye the Duke of Northumber- 
land, Sir John Gates, and Mr. Palmere came to execu- 
tion, and suffered deathe. The duke's confessyon was 
in effecte but lytle, as I hard saye ; hee confessyd him- 
selfe worthye to dye, and that hee was a greate helper 
in off this religion, which is false, whearefore God had 
pnished us with the loss King H. 8. and also with the 
loss of Kinge Ed. y e 6. ; then withe rebellyon, and 
aftere withe the swetyngc sicknes, and yet we would 



3%6 LADY JaNE grey, 

not turne ; requyringe them all that weare presente to 
remember the ould learninge, thankynge God that he 
would vutsafe to call him nowe to be a chrystyane, for 
thes 16 yeares he had byn none." 

This writer then says, " Thear weare a greate nom- 
ber turned with his worde. He wished every man not 
to be covetous, for that was a greate pte of his de- 
struction. He was asked further, yff he had any thinge 
more to saye ; and he sayd nothinge but that he was 
worthie to die, and so was moare than he. But he cam 
to dye and not to accuse any man ; and thus bouldly 
he spak tylle he layd his head on the blocke. 

" Litle moare in effecte was sayd by any of the reste, 
saving Mr. Palmer sayd he had byne a vicious lyvere.'" 

How far these confessions proceeded from fear of 
torture is a fair matter of doubt, when we read the 
next y following sentence, " The Duke of Norfolke 
gaue the Duke of Northumberlande his judgmente ; 
theare wente no quest n on him, for he confessed the in- 
ditement." The word " questn" evidently alluding to 
the rack *! 

* A very curious and even amusing jumble of the transactions 
at this period, has been given by that clever but conceited 
Frenchman, Stephen Perlin, already quoted, which deserves 
particular notice. It was first printed at Paris, in 1558: and 
afterwards translated into English, an extract of which we sub- 
join from the Antiq. Rep. iv. 501. 

" Good God ! what a sedition was I witness to ! It happened 
that King Edward was sick at the castle of Grenois (Green- 



AND UK 11 TIMES. 327 

Hut a fuller account of this affair is given in another 
letter, which states, that " The Duke of Northumber- 

wich); his illness lasted three months, at the expiration of 
which he died. Then might you every where behold the 
people trembling, groaning, and beating their breasts; then 
were all the milors much troubled, not knowing what steps to 
take. Hereupon milor Notombellant called together all the 
chief nobility, called lors, and set forth in several speeches that 
Henry the Eighth, King of England, had several wives, of 
which one was the mother of Madam Mary, who then pretended 
to the crown, and who is at present queen, whose mother having 
been found guilty of adultery, was condemned by the privy 
council of England, and all her posterity bastardized, and de- 
prived of all claims to royalty; and that thereupon the king 
had, by his last will, directed that his young son should be 
king, without having any regard to the Madam Marie and 
Madam Elizabeth, his daughters, which will was signed by the 
hand of the said Henry the Eighth, and approved and con- 
firmed by an arret ; of which will the Duke of Notombellant 
availed himself, and remonstrated to the council that his 
daughter ought to be queen, and that she was, by her mother's 
side, nearly allied to the crown ; for, different from all king- 
doms, the females here succeed to the throne. Many milors 
sided with him, and principally the duke of Suphor, the milor 
Arondelle, and the milor Marquis ; and the said Notombellant 
caused his daughter, named Madam Jane, to be proclaimed 
queen of the country, who, as I have before said, was married 
to milor Suphor. At her proclamation, the people neither made 
any great feasts, nor expressed any great satisfaction, neither 
was one bonefire made. The milor Notombellant set out to 
apprehend Madam Mary, in order to bring her prisoner to the 
castle of the Tower ; and took with him the Duke of Suphor, 
the milor Arondelle, and the milor Marquis, accompanied with 
fourteen or fifteen hundred horse. 

" But here fortune proved adverse to him and his enterprize : 
for being abandoned by his people, the poor prince, he and the 
Duke of Suphor, and the milor Arondelle, were ignominiously 



328 »• LADY JANE GREV, 

land, the Marques of Northampton, and the Earle of 
Warwicke weare array nid, the 18 daye of August, the 

and basely taken prisoners, without having struck one stroke, or 
shewed themselves men of courage. This behaviour was un- 
doubtedly very pusillanimous. They were conducted to the 
castle of the Tower, under an escort of about eight hundred 
men. The poor prince was ill advised; he ought, notwith- 
standing any opposition that might have been made against him, 
to have sent milor Arondelle to take possession of the castle of 
d'Ovre (Dover), the good man Suphor to occupy the Tower, the 
milor Marquis to the castle at Rie, and his son-in-law to some 
other port, which he might have easily effected; for I am certain 
that the whole kingdom trembled at his nod : and he, on the 
other hand, ought to have given battle to the queen, and have 
drawn to his party this seditious and noisy people, by the pro- 
mises of money, which he might without difficulty have done, 
for the deceased king left treasure in the Tower. But God, 
who alone distributes victories, would not pennit it; and 
cities are in vain guarded by great captains and armed men, if 
God does not protect them ; wherefore in the government of a 
kingdom, God ought to be implored on all occasions, he being 
our most faithful guardian, which the royal prophet, David, has 
well taught us. The afore-mentioned prisoners were taken to 
the Tower. The mob called the milor Notumbellant vile 
traitor, and he furiously eyed them with looks of resentment. 
Two days afterwards he was taken by water in a little bark to 
Ousemestre (Westminster), a royal palace, principally to indict 
and try him ; his trial was not long, for it did not last more 
than fifteen days at most; and he, the Duke of Suphor, and the 
milor Arondelle were condemned by an arret of council to be be- 
headed in an open place before the castle of the Tower ; and 
they had all three the pain of seeing one under the hands of an 
hangman, before whom a whole kingdom had trembled, which, 
reader, was a lamentable spectacle. This hangman was lame 
of a leg, for I was present at the execution, and he wore a white 
apron like a butcher. This great lord made great lamentations 
and complaints at his death, and said this prayer in English, 



AND HER TIMES. 329 

Duke of Norfolke, for that tyme Lord Stewarde of 
England. The duke confessed the indictments, and 
was ajudged to be drawne, hanged, and his quarters 
to be hanged about London ; so likewise was the Mar- 
ques. The Earle of Warwicke, upon his indictment, 
asked whether the acte of a kinge, confirmed by his 
counselle, in suche a case may stande or noe ; which 
beinge affirmed negatively, he then answered, Lord 
have mercy uppon me ; and so condempned weare re- 
turned to the Towere. 

" On Satterdaye beinge the 19 h daye of Auguste, 
was arraigned Sir Andrew Dudley, Sir John Gates, 
Sir Henry Gates, and Sir Thomas Palmere, and weare 
lykewise all condemned. 

" Then one Thursday, the 22 d of August, the 
Duke of Northumberland was behedded at the Towere 
hill. The daye befoare he did heare masse in the 
Towere very devoutly, which when he had done, he 
stood up in the mideste of suche as weare theare and 
sayd with a loud voyse, that for 16 yeares befoare that 
tyme he thoughte he had not served God truly, and 

throwing himself on his knees, looking up to Heaven, and ex- 
claiming tenderly, Lorde God mifatre prie fort ous poore siners 
nond vand in the hoore of our teatk: which is to say, in French, 
" Lord God my father, pray for us men and poor sinners, and 
principally in the hour of our death." After the execution you 
might see little children gathering up the blood which had 
fallen through the slits in the scaffold on which he had been 
beheaded. In this country the head is put upon a pole, and all 
their goods confiscated to the queen." 



330 LADY JANE GREY, 

that the puttinge downe of the masse was the greatest 
thoughte that ever he tooke for any thinge ; and that 
yff it had pleased God to haue graunted him lyfe, and 
had remained in authority, he would have put it downe 
himselfe ever one yeare had come to an ende; and 
added, that for to winne the harte of the cittezenes of 
London, because they loved newe thinges, he would 
not befoare do it. And when he came to the scaffold, 
aftere his protestacon, openly thear he willed all people 
for to imbrace the most sacred and holy masse, whearin 
(quoth he) is the true administration of the very true 
bodie and blood aftere the consecration (this, quoth he, 
is my faithe), and do pray you all to bear me witnes, 
that is this true faithe, which is the faithe of our mo- 
ther the holy church, comaunded by the mouthe of 
our Lord God, unto whom I commit my sowle, and 
willinge all the people once moare for to imbrace the 
same, and so made himselfe redy to the deathe, 
threatening the people of England with the affaires of 
Geermanye which have byne since in greate murder 
and slaughter, and kneelynge one his knees sayd a 
prayer, and after that the Psallme De Profundis. 

" Then cam Sir John Gates, who at his comyng up 
prayed the people to praye for him, saying, that he had 
offended, and thearfoare was come thyther to dye, and 
so made and didd and prepared himselfe for the blocke. 

" Then cam Sir Thomas Palmere, who, whenn hoc 
was uppon the scaffold put off his cape to the auditory, 



AND HER TIMES. '3'3I 

and sayd, God give you all good morrowe, and diveres 
did byd him good morrowe againe : and he replyed and 
sayd, I doe not doubte but that I have a good mor- 
rowe, and shall have a better good even. Good friends 
(quoth he) I am com hether to dye, for I have lyved 
heare under a lawe and haue offended the same ; and 
for my so doing the same lawe findeth me guilty, hathe 
condemned me to ende heare my lyfe this daye, for 
the which I geve God thankes, in that he hath shewed 
me the thinges which I have seene, and which also I 
knowe to be just and trewe, and that is this, I have 
since my coming out of yonder place, (poynting to the 
Towere) seene with myne eyes my Redeemere sittinge 
at y e ryght hand of God the father, in glorie and ma- 
jestie equally, whose powere is infinite, and in whom 
whoso putteth his truste shall never be deceaved ; and 
as he is almighty, so can he doe what he listeth, and 
to whom he will, and when he will, and that none in 
the heven above, nor in the earthe beneath, can or maye 
let his determinate wille, by whom I lyve, by whom I 
am, and in whom I truste to live eternally. 1 have, as 
some of you doe knowe, good people, byne a man not 
altogether noreshed in England, but some parte of my 
brede I have eaten in other realmes ; but to say that 
befoare nowe I did God aryght, the world aryghte, or 
myself aryghte I did never. And nowe, what I have 
sayd ye knowe. I saye, God is such a one, that with- 



332 LADY JANE GREY, 

out thowe wille sit downe and behould the heavenes 
above the sonne, and mone, the starres above the 
firmament, the course of the sonne, the moone, starres, 
and clowdes, the earthe withe all that in them is, and 
howe they be all preserved, thowe shake never knowe 
God aryght. The world is alltogether vanity; for it 
is nothinge but ambition, flattery, foolishe or vaine 
glorie, prid, discorde, slander, bostinge, disdayne, ha- 
tred and mallis ; all which thinges, the same God that 
made the world, or, as ye saye, man, which heare I 
compare to the world, dothe utterly deteste and ab- 
horre, in the which offences I have lived so noseled, 
that nowe havinge a just occasion to looke unto myne 
owne selfe, I have seene nothing but a body voyd of 
all goodness, filthie, and stinkynge of lazars worse than 
dung of beastes, a very miserable creature, and yet the 
very worke of the myghtie hand of God. But yet, not- 
withstandinge, in nowe knowinge my Creator arighte, 
I doe not thinke any time to be that I have not byne 
plunged over into the middeste of it, for the wch 
prayenge God nowe to pardon me, willinge you and 
prayenge you to praye for me, and withe me, unto the 
Lord my God, and your God, which God I faithfullie 
believe is in heven, and at the laste daye shall with all 
triumphe come agayne into this worlde, judgynge the 
same by fyere ; and nowe I wille bide you all farwelle, 
prayenge you all to forgeve me, and to saye, The 



AND HER TIMES. 333 

Lord receave me to his mercy, when you shall see the 
axe passe between my head and shoulderes: and so 
did prepare him to the deathe." 

It must be acknowledged, that this recantation of 
these victims to ambition, if not so also to the protest- 
ant faith — is a matter of great doubt and obscurity. 
Much of this may, it is true, be explained by what is 
asserted by Strype, in his life of Cranmer, that North- 
umberland was visited in prison by Bishop Hethe, to 
whom he pretended that he was reconverted to popery ; 
to which, and most probably even to his dying declara- 
tion, he was persuaded by a promise made to him, 
that if he would recant and hear mass, he should have 
his pardon, even though his head were upon the block. 
Strype adds, that the Emperor Charles V. had also 
been persuaded by the duke's enemies to insist upon 
Mary's signing the warrant of execution, which she 
was half inclined to remit — but he then remarks, " the 
priests best know the intrigues of Mary's reign.'" 

It must be recollected, however, that during all these 
affairs, and even at the time of the execution, Mary 
was still a resident in the Tower, which fortress she did 
not quit for St. James's until the 12th of September ; 
and then not before she had directed a, forced loan to 
be made in the city of London, which was announced 
on the first of that month : on which a punster might 
observe, that she had thus made game of the worthy 
citizens in return for their applause. This loan was 



LADY JANE GREY, 

principally to defray the expenses of her coronation, 
which she was determined to celebrate with all possible 
pomp and magnificence. 

After residing for about a fortnight at St. James's, 
she returned to the Tower by water, on the 27th of 
September, accompanied by her sister Elizabeth, on 
whom she appears to have kept a very watchful eye. 
On this occasion repeated salutes were fired, amounting, 
for some time, to a continual cannonade, especially at 
the Tower, each of whose u sakers and demi-culverins" 
sounded as the knell of the unhappy youthful couple 
then immured within its walls : and also of Cranmer 
and Latimer, who had been sent to prison on the 15th 
of the month. 

Every thing being arranged for the coronation, 
which was fixed for the 3d of October, Mary left the 
Tower on the last day of September, and rode through 
the city, with the most splendid pageantry, to West- 
minster ; and still accompanied by Elizabeth, of whom 
she had already begun to feel great jealousy. Nor 
were her fears groundless; for, notwithstanding the 
changeable sycophancy of her ministers and apparent 
partisans, she could not forget that the only member 
of the council who had refused to join in the measures 
to bastardize her was Sir James Hales, or Halles, one 
of the justices of the Common Pleas ; and he too was 
a great favourer of the reformed religion. Yet this 
refusal weighed not with the queen ; who visited him 



AND HER TIMES. D&5 

with her severe anger, because, at a quarter session in 
Kent, he gave charge upon the statutes of King Henry 
VIII. and of Edward, in derogation of the primacy of 
the church of Rome. For this, certainly a lawful act, he 
was first committed to the King's Bench, then to the 
compter, and finally to the Fleet prison, where his mind 
became so unsettled, that he made an attempt upon his 
own life with a penknife. On his recovery he was brought 
before the queen, who, it is said, spoke kindly towards 
him ; but this was of no avail, for shortly afterwards, 
on his liberation, he drowned himself in a rivulet not 
half a mile from his own house; and so determined 
was he upon this melancholy proceeding, that, on ac- 
count of the shallowness of the rivulet, he actually lay 
groveling in it until he was suffocated. 

The splendour which Mary determined to display 
on her coronation led to a review^ of the royal ward- 
robe : and she had been only a short time seated on 
her throne, when she began to look about her for the 
crown jewels, and such other valuables as she could 
claim, appertaining to her predecessors. Such of these 
as had been delivered to the Lady Jane, that unhappy 
lady had already given up ; but Mary, evidently with 
a very unjust suspicion, thought otherwise; and on 
the 20th of September, issued the following unhand- 
some order to the Marquess of Winchester, still lord 
treasurer * : 

* Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. 611. 



336 LADY JANE GREY, 

" By the Quene. 

" Marye the Quene. 

" Trustie and welbeloved, wee grete you well. And 
where upon delyverie of certen our jewelles and stuffe 
to yor handes by the Lady Jane Gray, the xx of July 
last, wch she before had receyved of you, the xii* of 
the same moneth, it appeyreth that the pcelles herafter 
mencioned were wantynge, and by occasion therof can- 
not yet be found agayne : forasmuch as wee certeynlie 
undrestonde that by your diligence all the rest that 
she had was recovered, beinge at the same time in like 
daungere, and upon trust wee have ye will not let to use 
the lyke travayle to recover these pcelles also to our use 

so sone as ye canne ; we are therfore pleased," Sec. 

Here her very careful and liberal majesty gave to the 
marquess an acquittance for himself and heirs. 

To some readers it may be curious to enumerate 
the articles whose loss is here complained of. 

The first was a chain of twenty pieces of gold, ena- 
melled black, with forty clusters of pearls set in gold, 
with five pearls in every cluster. Next a chain of 
forty-four pieces of gold, and in each of them two 
small turquoises and twenty-four pearls. Also a col- 
lette of gold and two pearls; parcel of twenty-four 
broken collettes, containing thirty-six pearls. " Item, 
two pearls, parcell of eighteen upon an upper ha- 
billement." All these are stated to have been taken 



AX J) HKJl TIMES. 



33" 



out of a coffer on which was written " The Queries 
Jewells:" but the list was much larger, out of a 
" square cofer covered with fustian of Naples." The 
first of these is, " Item, a litle piece of a broken ring 
of gold — Item, a booke of prayeres, covered with 
purple velvett, and garnished with gold — Item, a 
purse of lether, with xviii peces of silver of sundrie 
straunge coynes — Item, three frenche crownes, wherof 
one broken — Item, a girdle of gold — Item, iiii old 
half-pence of silver — Item, viii litle half-pence and far- 
things of latten — Item, xvi d. two farthings, and two 
half-pence — Item, a pair of twitchers of silver — Item, 
a ringe of golde, with a deathe's head — Item, a prymer 
in English — Item, a litle square boxe of gold and 
silver, with a paire of sheares, and diverse shreddes of 
satten in the same — Item, in a white paper, a litle pece 
of damask gold — Item, a paire of knyves in a case 
of black silk — Item, two bookes covered with lether." 
— But perhaps the most curious of all is out of 
" the cofer marked with the broad arrow :" " Item, 
two shavinge clothes — Item, xiiii paire of gloves of 
diverse sortes." 

The careful Mary had also an inventory of her own 
jewels taken ; many of the entries in which are scarcely 
intelligible at the present day. " Item, a shippe gar- 
nischede fullie with diamountes, lacking two — Item, 
one H. and K. with one lardge emeralde, and one 
lardge pece pendente — Item, a tablet, being a whistle 



LADY JANE GREY, 

of gold, a woman the upper part, gold enameled white, 
and the lower of mother of perle." Then there was a 
tablet of gold, with the king's picture on one side 
painted, on the other a rose of diamonds: also a 
" tablet of gold, therein a clocke. ,, Next come " car- 
ranettes"" of gold and diamonds — " laces for the necke, 
of gold — habillementes of gold, perles, and stone — ger- 
delles of gold — bracellettes of gold — beades — aglettes 
— buttons — claspes — glasses — books — furres" — &c. &c. 

In another part of this curious MS. is a further list 
of " coyne receaved of the Lady Jane Gray," on the 
25th of July. This list contains some " crownes 
and half-crownes — old Edwardes — peces of golde — 
double duckettes — peces of gold 1 ' (with the pictures 
of Henry VIII. Edward VI. &c.) " one half anngel — 
shillinges and half shillinges." — Even " base money ," 
to the amount of four shillings and five-pence, is set 
down — " Item, olde sterlinge money, with two placke 
.... xxd. — Item, xiii brasse peces, not valued !" The 
whole amounting to <£541 13,9. %d. ! " Receaved of 
the Lord Guilforde Dudeley, in moneys of the base 
standarde, xxxii li. viii s." 

In short, it is evident that the unhappy pair were 
stripped of every penny they possessed ; for it is im- 
possible to believe that such sums, and such monies, 
could have been part of the royal treasury. This ex- 
treme harshness, however, seems to have been pretty 
fair evidence of what Mary's intentions were towards 



VXD HER TIMES. 339 

her prisoners, as soon as the bustle of her own corona- 
tion should be over ; which took place in Westminster 
Abbey, on the 1st, or, as some say, on the 5th of Oc- 
tober, with unprecedented magnificence. 

This ceremony w r as scarcely over, when measures 
were put in train for the impeachment and trial of 
Lady Jane, and her husband, Lord Guildford Dudley, 
together with Lord Ambrose, and Sir Henry Dudley, 
sons of the Duke of Northumberland; and likewise 
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, whose back- 
wardness, in favour of the proposed succession setting 
aside Mary, availed him nothing in the day of her 
power, when she still remembered his conduct in re- 
gard to her mother's divorce, in addition to his " he- 
retical" opinions. 

The trial, on an arraignment for high treason, took 
place at Guildhall on the 13th of November ; on the 
morning of which day Lady Jane and her husband 
were led thither from the Tower, under a guard of 
four hundred halberdiers. To the indictment they 
all pleaded guilty ; fully aware that defence was in 
vain. 

It is stated, by an Italian author, (Florio) who ap- 
pears to have had good opportunities of information, that 
Lady Jane displayed the utmost coolness and presence 
of mind upon this occasion. He says, that neither the 
noise nor greatness of the crowd, nor the clash of arms, 
nor even the solemn ceremonies observed in passing 



340 LADY JANE GREY, 

sentence, nay, nor the presence of her unjust judges, 
seemed to alarm her, or to shake her constancy : her 
cheeks were never robbed of their bloom ; nor did her 
voice in the slightest degree falter or tremble. The 
whole of this description has been well embodied by 
Rowe in his tragedy, when he makes Bishop Gar- 
diner, who was most active upon this occasion, thus 
reply to Pembroke , s expostulations in favour of 
mercy : 

Gar. These are romantic, light, vain-glorious dreams. 
Have you consider'd well upon the danger ? 
How dear to the fond many, and how popular, 
These are whom you would spare ? Have you forgot 
When at the bar, before the seat of judgment, 
This Lady Jane, this beauteous trait'ress, stood, 
With what command she charm'd the whole assembly ? 
With silent grief the mournful audience sat, 
Fix'd on her face, and list'ning to her pleading : 
Her very judges wrung their hands for pity; 
Their old hearts melted in 'em as she spoke, 
And tears ran down upon their silver beards. 
Ev'n I myself was moved, and for a moment 
Felt wrath suspended in my doubtful breast, 
And question'd if the voice I heard was mortal. 
But when her tale was done, what loud applause, 
Like bursts of thunder, shook the spacious hall ! 
At last, when sore constraint, th' unwilling lords 
Pronounced the fatal sentence on her life ; 
A peal of groans ran through the crowded court 
As ev'ry heart was broken, and the doom, 
Like that which waits the world, were universal. 

The awful sentence passed, she was ordered back 
to the Tower under the same escort, in company With 



AND II Kit TIMES. 



341 



the other victims : but the whole scene was so terrific, 
that the persons who had been permitted to attend 
upon her in her prison, for consolation and support, 
were so impressed with its various horrors, as to be 
indebted to her for that consolation which they could 
not give *. 

" Oh, faithful companions of my sorrows," said she, 
" why do you thus afflict me with your plaints ? Are 

* The royal apartments in the Tower, and the " Quenes 
Garden/' as it was called, occupied the south eastern angle of 
that fortress, close by Irongate. After Elizabeth's time they 
went to decay, and the offices of the ordnance stand upon their 
site. The only remaining vestige is what is now called Cold 
Harbour ; supposed to be the entrance to that part of the palace 
afterwards occupied by Elizabeth, whilst a state prisoner. 



^ 




342 



LADY JANE GREY, 



we not born into life to suffer adversity, and even 
disgrace, if it be necessary ? When has the time been 
that the innocent were not exposed to violence and 
oppression ?" 

With respect to the public feeling, as manifested on 
her way back to the Tower, it is stated expressly by 
Speed, that great lamentations were made, during the 
transit of all the prisoners, but especially for the good 
Lady Jane ; whose state the queen herself so pitied, 
that she ordered her to have the liberty of walking in 
the queen's garden in the Tower, and on the hill also : 
and he adds, that surely had not her father, after his 
first offence, fallen into another, she had been, as was 
thought, " pardoned of life.^ It has been supposed 
that the youth and innocence of those two youthful 
personages, neither of whom had reached their seven- 
teenth year, pleaded sufficiently in their behalf, even 
upon her bigoted and jealous mind. 




AND HKK TIMES. 



34^5 



SECTION VII. 



Treatment of Lady Jane and Lord Guildford as Prisoners — In- 
dulgences and Hopes of Pardon —Efforts for Conversion, on 
the Part of Mary— Steadiness and Christian Fortitude of Lady 
Jane — Letter to. Harding — Revival of Popery — Submission 
of the Realm to the Pope— Public Opinions and Feelings — 
Wyat's Rebellion — Proposed Marriage of Mary with Philip of 
Spain — Anecdotes, &c. — Injudicious Participation of the Duke 
of Suffolk in the Rebellion — His Arrest and Imprisonment 
in the Tower — Fatal Consequences to Lady Jane— Confer- 
ences with Catholic Priests— Order for Execution — Letter to 
her Father, and other obituary Memorials— Preparations for 
the fatal Hour — Prayer in Prison — Execution of Lord Guild- 
ford Dudley; followed by that of Lady Jane ! — Affecting 
Anecdotes of the unhappy Pair — Resignation and Christian 
Fortitude of Lady Jane — Speech on the Scaffold — She 
falls ! ! ! — Conclusion. 



The day of their trial was the first on which those 
illustrious victims to parental ambition had been per- 
mitted to see each other since their first moment of 
arrest ; and they were as sedulously separated on their 
return to the Tower ; yet to Lord Guildford some little 
indulgence was shown, for Stowe, in his Annals, says, 
that he and Lord Ambrose " had the liberties of the 
ports where they were lodged." But when, on the 



344 LADY JAXE GREY, 

21st of December, the Marquess of Northampton and 
Sir Henry Gates were pardoned and discharged, then 
the confinement of both the Dudleys and of Lady 
Jane was lessened in strictness, and, it is said, with 
hopes of pardon. The two young lords were per- 
mitted to walk on the leads of the Tower ; whilst to 
Lady Jane was granted the favour of walking in the 
queen's garden, together with several other little in- 
dulgences ; which would, however, have only been so 
many acts of cruelty, if further punishment had then 
been intended. 

It has been supposed, by some, that Mary, at this 
moment, had no sanguinary purposes in view, but 
merely hoped, that by terror of the scaffold, and in the 
silence and seclusion of a prison, she might be able to 
recal them from that " heretical" path for which she 
had such an aversion ; and, in consonance with this, it 
is stated by an anonymous writer *, that, during this 
period of her imprisonment, Mary and her priestly 
counsellors were very anxious to convert our amiable 
heroine to popery, for which purpose several learned 
divines of the Roman catholic persuasion were sent to 
her, to dissuade her from that profession of the Gospel 
which from her cradle she had ever held ; each striving 
by art, by flattery, by threatenings, by promise of life, 
" or what else might move most in the bosom of a weak 
woman, who should become master of so great a prize ; 
* Phoenix, vol. ii. p. 3(i. 



AND HER TIMES. 345 

but all their labours were bootless, for she had art to 
confound their art, wisdom to withstand their flatteries, 
resolution above their menaces, and such a true know- 
ledge of life, that Death was to her no other than a 
most familiar acquaintance." 

It has indeed been asserted by several, that she had 
the most solemn promises of life and fortune, provided 
she would recant : but all in vain ; and she therefore 
began early to prepare herself for death, by a careful 
study of the promises in the Gospel. 

If the letter recorded in Fox's Acts and Monuments 
as written by Lady Jane to Dr. Harding, who had 
been her father's chaplain, on the subject of his re- 
cantation from the reformed religion, be really from 
her pen, it must have been composed about this period, 
during her imprisonment ; for Harding did not recant 
until after Mary's accession. Burnet observes of this 
letter, that it is " full of life in the thought, and zeal 
in the expression'" — but we cannot help approving of 
the opinion of several judicious writers, that the violent 
flaming zeal, with the coarse indelicate language of it, 
cannot have been the genuine effusion of a mind so 
gentle and amiable as that of our heroine. 

The letter itself may be found in Fox's Acts and Mo- 
numents*, and commences with a variety of phrases, ap- 
plied to Harding as forsaking Christ, which surpass even 
the Billingsgate of some modern sectaries. Then follow 
* Vol. iii. p. 27. 



346 LADY JANE GREY, 

reproaches for apostasy, in a style such as few professed 
termagants would venture to use in conversation, much 
less set down in writing; whilst the attack upon the 
Roman catholic church, though it manifests great ve- 
hemence of faith and abhorrence, does not at all re- 
semble either the piety or the Christian forbearance 
for which Lady Jane was so remarkable. 

Can it for a moment be supposed that such epithets 
as '* deformed imp of the devil," — " stinking and filthy 
kennel of Satan," — " unshamefast paramour of Anti- 
christ," — " cowardly runaway," — " golden calf," — 
« * * * of Babylon,"—" sink of sin,"—" child of per- 
dition," — " white-livered milksop," with a long &c. can 
have issued from the mind or pen of an amiable young 
female ? We think not ; and therefore consider it un- 
necessary to notice this epistle any further. 

Mary's disposition to re-introduce popery soon mani- 
fested itself ; at first, indeed, in small things, but not 
the less likely to excite suspicion ; for, in a " List of 
memorable Occurrences " on that subject, preserved in 
the Museum *, we find it recorded, that " comandment 
was gyven, that in all churches in London, the sepul- 
ture should be had upp agayne, and that evry man 
should beare palmes and goe to shrifte ;" and soon after, 
on Ash- Wednesday, Dr. Weston sung mass at Charing 
Cross " before the quene in harnesse under his vest- 
ments ;" whilst the queen went in procession, " and 
* Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. I. 419, 43. 



AND HER TIMES. 347 

Burne, Byshopp of Bath, dyd ther wer a myter and a 
payre of slyppers off sylver and gilt," &c. &c. 

But she was soon enabled to pursue her plans more 
openly ; for as early as the beginning of December she 
had gained over the parliament to her purposes, as 
appears by 

" The submission of the realme to the Pope, the last 
day of November, 1554. — Translation*. 

" To their Majesties the King and Queen. 

" We, the lords spiritual and temporal, and com- 
mons of the whole kingdom of England, singly and 
universally, in our own and in their name, by this 
supplication, directed to your majesties, most humbly 
beg that the Right Reverend Father in God, Cardinal 
Pole, being specially deputed to his Holiness Pope 
Julius the Third, and to the Holy Apostolic Roman 
See, this our supplication shall be transmitted by your 
majesties, by which we declare ourselves to be deeply 
penitent of the heresy and disobedience committed in 
this realm against the said Apostolic See, not only in 
passing, but in consenting to, and in acting on certain 
laws, ordinances, and decrees, in opposition to the 
primary authority of that see, and also in regard to 
the impugning of that authority, either in word or 
deed. 

* Brit. Mus. Cotton. Tit. c. vii. 118. 



348 LADY JANE GREY, 

" Witnessing and promising by this our supplication 
in testimony and declaration of this our repentance, 
that we are and shall be prepared, on the authority of 
our rulers, to do whatever we can that these laws, 
decrees, and ordinances shall be rescinded and abro- 
gated in this present parliament, as well in our own 
name as in that of the whole body which we represent. 
In which we humbly supplicate your majesties, that 
every polluted spot thrown by this body upon that 
holy see, to whom Divine Providence has subjected 
us, being wiped out, your majesties will be pleased to 
intercede for us that this our humble supplication shall 
be received at the Apostolic See, through the aforesaid 
Right Reverend Lord Legate, and that we, all and 
every of us, shall obtain free pardon, absolution, and 
liberation from all censures and sentences to which we 
fall under the ecclesiastical laws ; and that as penitent 
children we may be received into the bosom and unity 
of the church of Christ ; that this noble realm, with 
all its members, may be one in unity and in perfect 
obedience to the Apostolic See, and the Roman Pontiffs, 
to serve God and your majesties only, and for the 
divine honour and glory ." 

With such high political sanction to her views, 
Mary could have little to fear from her youthful rivals 
in poverty and imprisonment ; but whatever hopes 
Lady Jane and her husband might have entertained, 
whatever case they might then be permitted to enjoy. 



AND HER TIMES. 349 

were quickly taken away by one unhappy event, 
which it was impossible for them to foresee, and in 
which it was not so much as pretended that they were 
parties. Indeed this unfortunate circumstance arose, 
apparently, from causes totally different. 

It is stated by all historians that, whatever the 
public feelings had been in regard to Mary's right to 
the throne, yet there was now a great spirit raised in 
the nation against her union with Philip of Spain ; and 
upon this a general insurrection was concerted, which, 
it is generally admitted, if it had been executed with 
any degree of that prudence shown in the planning of 
it, could scarcely have failed of success. Sir Thomas 
Wyat, as we shall speak of further presently, was to 
be the leader in Kent; whilst Sir Peter Carew, in 
Cornwall, undertook to negociate with all those who 
might prefer to see the Princess Elizabeth, a Pro- 
testant, upon the throne, and married to Courtenay, 
the young Earl of Devonshire. 

The breaking out of this plan was probably hastened 
by Mary's haste to be married; for as early as the 
12th of January, 1554, she was deep in negociation ; 
and very soon after Count Egmont arrived in London 
to settle every thing for the marriage. 

That Mary's alarm, in regard to the proceedings of 
the people of London, was not ill founded, may be 
readily allowed; and their disposition may be illus- 
trated by the fact that shortly afterwards, on the ex- 



350 LADY JANE GKEY, 

pected arrival of her husband Philip, she was obliged 
to publish a proclamation, in which she said, that 
having " concluded a marriage, to the honour of Al- 
mighty God, and the weale and benefit of her graces 
realmes and subjects, with the most high and mighty 
Prince of Spain, hir highnes, considering the lightnes 
and evill disposition of divers lowe and seditious per- 
sons, who, seeking always novelties, and being seldom 
contented with their present state, might, peradventure, 
at this time, by their naughtie and disordered beha- 
viour, attempt to stir discord, and give reason to breake 
the order and frendly agreem* that ought to be nou- 
rished and contynued between the subjects of this 
realme and such as shall come in with the said noble 
prince. ,, — Ordered that the most friendly conduct 
should be shown unto these strangers, as they were 
also to show in England; " with curtuosie, frendly 
and gentle enterteignment, without ministring towards 
them any manner, cause of strife, or contention, either 
by outward dedes, taunting wordes, unseemly counte- 
nance, or by any other waies or meanes whereby lack 
of frendship or goodwill might be conceived. 1 "' — She 
then notified to all the nobility and gentry that she 
would hold them accountable for the conduct and be- 
haviour of their servants and dependents, upon pain of 
her high displeasure and indignation ; threatening them 
also with committal to prison, " without bail or main- 
prise, to abide there such further punishment, cither 



AND H£R T1MKS. 351 

by fyne or otherwise, as shall be thought agreeable to 
the quality of his or their offences, and may serve for 
an example to other like disordrid persons *." 

To make matters doubly sure, Mary also sent for 
the lord-mayor and corporation to court, when she in- 
formed them of the intended wedding, and desired 
that they should behave themselves like good subjects, 
with all humbleness and rejoicing ! 

Of Wyatfs rebellion it is stated -f", that it was begun 
by that knight sooner than at first intended, in conse- 
quence of his alarm at hearing that one of his dearest 
friends was committed to the Fleet prison. The cause 
of committal was, indeed, distinct from the plot ; but 
Sir Thomas felt alarmed, and broke out at once into 



* Of the police of the city some idea may be formed from a 
proclamation also issued at this period, by the mayor and court 
of aldermen, in the queen's name, reciting that ( ' heretofore great 
study and care hath bene taken for the cleene keeping of the 
streets, lanes, and allies; therby to avoid sickness and infec- 
tion ;" and ordering every person possessed of wells or pumps, 
to cause ten bucketsfull, at least, of water to be thence drawn 
every morning before six o'clock, and to be poured or cast into 
the streets and kennels ; whilst the same should be swept every 
morning before, and every evening after six. The scavengers 
were then ordered to sweep and carry away the filth every 
second day; whilst it was further directed, that no person 
should permit their dogs to be in the street after ten at night, or 
before four in the morning ; authorizing all dogs found within 
those hours to be killed, without any redress to the owner for 
the same. 

t Vide Fuller's Church History. 



352 LADY JANE GREY, 

open hostility. Fuller relates that the queen, hearing 
of the commotion, sent a herald to him with orders to 
desist ; who, on his arrival at Sir Thomases house, found 
it deeply moated round about, with the bridge drawn 
up, but still that a place like a ford seemed to offer a 
safe passage. " On the inside thereof walked the proper 
case of a man well habited, and his face carrying no 
despair of wisdome therein. The herauld asked him, 
6 whether he might safely go over there ? ' To whom 
the other slightly answered, ( yea, yea : ' but had not 
the strength of his horse been more than ordinary, he 
either had been drowned in the water, or buried in the 
mudde." The herald, on his arrival at the house, 
made loud complaints of the deceit practised upon 
him ; when Sir Thomas summoned all his household 
to answer the charge : " The herauld challengeth the 
party at the first sight of him: < AlasseT said Sir 
Thomas, 6 he is a meer naturell, as will appear if you 
pleese to examine him.'' ' Why, sirrah,' said the he- 
rauld, ' did you direct me to come over where it was 
almost impossible to passe without drowning?'' To 
whom the other answered, ' The duckes came over not 
long before you, whose legs were shorter than your 
horse's."' Hereat the herauld smiled out his anger, 
adding withall, ' Sir Thomas, hereafter let your foole 
wear the badge of his profession on him, that he may 
deceive no more in this kinde.' " 

It was not until the twentieth of January that the 



AND HER TIMES. 353 

queen and her council pretended to consider the re- 
bellion of Wyatt as connected with the Lady Jane ; 
but on that day, in the address of Sir Robert South- 
well, sheriff of Kent, to the people assembled at the 
market of Town Mailing, it was expressly said, " Do 
you not see and note, that as in the beginning of the 
quenes most gracious reign, some of these sought to 
deprive her grace of her princely estate and rightful 
dignity, minding to advance therunto the Lady Jane, 
daughter to the Duke of Suffolk?" — " So are they 
and others newly confederated with the Duke," &c. 

But it is a certain fact that Wyatt's rebellion, as 
appears from his own proclamation, was to oppose the 
queen's marrying with a foreigner; yet this availed 
little to the unhappy victims now identified with that 
rebellion; perhaps, too, not unfairly. At all events, 
it was an unfortunate coincidence for the poor prisoner 
that her father, the Duke of Suffolk, within a very few 
months after the failure of his ambitious plans, un- 
mindful of the clemency which he had so lately re- 
ceived, and at the risk of his daughters safety, still in 
the queen's power, should have been so infatuated as 
to take part in this rebellion now set afloat by Sir 
Thomas Wyatt, even though only on pretence of 
danger apprehended from Mary's projected marriage 
with Philip of Spain. 

But so misguided was that unhappy man, that on 
the twenty-fifth of January, accompanied by his two 



354 LADY JANE GREY, 

brothers, the Lords Thomas and Richard Grey, he 
departed secretly one evening from his residence at 
Sheen, near Richmond, and set off with all speed for 
Leicestershire, making proclamation (both in Leicester 
and in other places) of Wyatt's rise, but confining 
himself to the subject of Mary's intended marriage. 
His force amounted to about one hundred and forty 
horsemen : but he found so little encouragement in 
Leicestershire, even amongst his own tenants, that he 
set off to try the next county, yet with similar ill suc- 
cess; for the citizens of Coventry shut their gates 
against him, in which they were directed by the Earl 
of Huntingdon, who had been sent down by the queen 
to oppose any probable disturbances in that quarter. 

Foiled in his endeavours, he found it prudent to 
retire to Astley, where he and one of his brothers 
took refuge in some secret place in the park of that 
mansion : but to little effect ; for he was shortly after- 
wards betrayed to the Earl of Huntingdon, and con- 
veyed to Coventry in the custody of Christopher War- 
ner, an alderman of that city. 

His other brother, the Lord Thomas, as Hollinshed 
informs us, got away at that time, intending to have 
fled into Wales, from whence he might have escaped 
to the Continent; but on the borders of that princi- 
pality he was also apprehended, " through his great 
mishap, and follie of his man, who had forgot his 
cap case with monie behind him in his chamber one 



AND HEB Tl.MKs. '355 

morninge at his bine, and, coming for it againe, upon 
examination what he should be, it was mistrusted that 
his maister should be some such man as he was indeed, 
and so was staied, taken, and brought up to London.'" 

It may, perhaps, now be fairly said, as generally 
believed by the writers of that time, that this rebellion 
alone proved fatal to the Lady Jane, and Lord Guild- 
ford ; for her father's treason was now imputed by the 
queen and her friends to the unaspiring daughter, 
although the fact certainly was, that the rebels and 
malcontents seemed principally to rest their hopes upon 
the Princess Elizabeth, and the Earl of Devonshire. 
Indeed Bishop Burnet acknowledges, that even now 
Mary was adverse to sanguinary measures : nay, when 
all her priests and ministers urged that her safety could 
only be provided for by fulfilling the sentences already 
passed upon her unhappy prisoners, it was still with 
considerable difficulty that she could be prevailed on 
to sign the warrants for their execution ; a measure, 
too, which she delayed unto the last moment. 

But when it was understood that Wyat had ad- 
vanced on the first of February to Greenwich, matters 
began to take a very serious turn ; and when, on the 
same day, though proclamation was made that the Duke 
of Suffolk was taken prisoner, and his people scattered, 
yet Wyat still pushed on for the metropolis, and on 
the third was actually in South wark, Mary at once 
decided on their fate, which, however, was necessarily 

A A 2 



256 LADY JANE GREY, 

postponed during the assault on the metropolis by 
Wyat's insurgents, on the 5th and 6th of February. 

On the latter day, the insurgents being defeated, 
and Wyat himself made a prisoner, tranquillity was in 
some measure restored; and on the 7th the council 
met to consult on the necessary steps, when, as Sir 
Richard Baker observes, the first that was thought on 
was the Lady Jane, in whom was verified, " the fathers 
have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set 
on edge; 1 '' for the innocent lady must suffer for her 
father's fault, and now, as a rock of offence, she is the 
first that must be removed. It appears from Baker's 
statement, that Feckenham, then the queen's confessor, 
afterwards abbot of Westminster, was sent on the 8th 
to acquaint her that she must prepare herself to die 
the very next day ; which message was so little un- 
pleasing to her, that she seemed rather to rejoice at it, 
as if thereby she were to be set at liberty. 

Feckenham, during this interview, in which she at 
once told him candidly that she had long expected the 
fate thus announced, was very earnest, according to the 
orders which he had received, both from the queen and 
Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, in exhorting her to 
change her religion ; when she, even thus taken without 
preparation, answered him upon that subject with groat 
calmness of mind and clearness of reason, not only 
upon the subjects of faith and holiness, but also on the 
sacraments, the scriptures, and the authority of the 



AND HER TIMES. 



357 



church. She concluded with saying, that she had now 
no time to think of any thing, but of preparing herself 
to God by prayer; when the abbot, construing this 
observation to mean a request for some delay, applied 
to the queen, who granted him three days longer for 
the poor captive, to whom he instantly announced it 
in her prison. 

He entered her apartment with a smile in his coun- 
tenance, whilst he informed her of the reprieve ; but 
Lady Jane mildly answered him, " You are much de- 
ceived if you think I have any desire of longer life ; 
for I assure you, since the time you went from me, 
my life hath been so tedious to me, that I long for 
nothing so much as death ; and since it is the queen's 
pleasure, I am most willing to undergo it;'" adding, 
that far from desiring her death might be delayed, she 
expected and wished for it, as the period of her miseries, 
and her entrance into eternal happiness. 

Indeed it is evident that to Lady Jane the bitterness 
of death was now past, so long had she looked forward 
to it, being thus prepared to meet her fate before it 
was announced ; an expectation said to have been, in 
some measure, turned into certainty some days previous, 
by the enforcement of a stricter confinement, and the 
abrogation of all former indulgences. 

When Mary was informed of the preceding con- 
versation, she became inflamed with the spirit of en- 



358 LADY JANE grey, 

thusiastic persecution ; and, in the frenzy of bigoted 
zeal, but under pretence of tender mercy to the soul of 
her unhappy prisoner, again sent to her Feckenham, 
her own confessor, and several other divines of the 
Roman Catholic church, who disturbed her devotions, 
and molested her with perpetual disputation; and 
they even went so far as to offer her a further reprieve, 
in hopes that she might be persuaded during that time 
to pay, by what they called a timely conversion, some 
regard to her eternal welfare ; for which purposes a 
more formal conference was appointed by them, and so 
far acquiesced in by the suffering martyr. 

Feckenham went to this conference with great hope 
and exultation. He thought he should now have found 
her in great disorder, and confusion, and that it would 
be no difficult matter to triumph over the feeble un- 
derstanding of a dejected and heart-broken young fe- 
male. He found it quite otherwise, however : yet Lady 
Jane was still anxious to decline the proposed dispute ; 
telling him that now she had no time to spare — that 
controversy might be fit for the living, but not for the 
dying — and that, therefore, the truest sign of his having 
that compassion for her, of which he made such strong 
professions, would be to leave her undisturbed in 
making her peace with God. 

With this humble request the confessor's presiunp- 
luous hopes forbade compliance ; particularly as several 



AND HER TIMES. 



359 



individuals had been purposely admitted, besides the 
accompanying clergy, before whom he was anxious to 
display his powers. 

The account of this conference, as given by an ano- 
nymous writer of that day *, is, that Feckenham had 
with her a long and tedious disputation ; but, like the 
other priests, who had preceded him in this second 
task of attempted conversion, found himself in all holy 
gifts so short of her excellence, that even he acknow- 
ledged himself fitter to be her disciple than her teacher; 
and that he actually besought her to deliver to him 
some brief account of her faith, which he might here- 
after keep, and as a faithful witness publish to the 
world. To this she is stated to have willingly con- 
descended; bidding him boldly question her in what 
points of religion soever it pleased him, and promising 
that she would give her faithful and believing answer, 
such as she would be ever ready to seal with her blood. 

The same writer asserts, that this catechising argu- 
ment, for such it was, took place in the Tower publicly 
before an assemblage of the noble and learned ; during 
which Lady Jane bore herself with such a modest hu- 
mility, yet so honourably stout in all things, which 
either concerned her God or her religion, that she ra- 
vished and stole unto her all the hearts of her auditory, 
while Feckenham lost much of that good opinion of his 

* Phoenix, vol. ii. p. 36. 



360 LADY JANE GREY, 

learning, which for a long time he had enjoyed. On 
this, we are told, that finding his own weakness, and 
his disability to repel her truth with his scholastic fal- 
lacies, he lost his temper, and dared to use towards 
her " some immodest speeches, most unsuitable for his 
gravity :" an insult, however, which she only answered 
with smiles and patience. 

The conference, of course, was now at an end ; but 
though Feckenham went through the farce of paying 
his parting respects towards Lady Jane, as the others 
did, yet he could no control his spleen, saying to her, 
" Madam ! I am sorry for you and your obstinacy ; 
and now I am assured that you and I shall never meet 
again !" 

Even to this coarse witticism, Lady Jane merely 
answered, " It is most true, sir ! we shall never meet 
again, except God turn your heart; for I stand un- 
doubtedly assured, that unless you repent and turn to 
God, you are in a sad and desperate case ; and I pray 
to God to send you his holy spirit, for he hath given 
you his great gift of utterance, if it please him to open 
the eyes of your heart to his truth." 

Feckenham, more enraged at this, turned rudely 
upon his heel, and left her without obeisance ; whilst 
she, like a suffering saint, withdrew herself into her 
bedchamber to meditation and prayer. 

Part of this disputation, said to be drawn up by 



AND HER TIMES. 361 

Lady Jane herself, is given by various authors*, and 
its sum and substance we may thus briefly sketch-)-. 

To Feckenham's question, as to the duties of a 
christian, Lady Jane named a sincere belief in God, 
as a trinity, a sincere love of God in heart, soul, and 
mind, and the love of our fellow creatures as ourselves. 
Faith and love towards God she described as inse- 
parable ; whilst love to our fellow creatures, she ex- 
plained, as combining all the bounties of active charity 
with a liberal feeling, founded upon the golden christian 
rule, of doing unto others as we wish them to do unto 
us. Good works, however, she did not consider as the 
price of salvation, but only as the necessary tests and 



* Fox's Acts and Monuments, Phoenix, &c. 

t In the British Museum, Harl. Coll. No. 425, p. 83, is a 
copy, apparently verbatim, of this conference. We subjoin its 
commencement, as a specimen of the manner in which it was 
conducted. 

" Fecknam. What thynge is requyryd in a crystyne ? 

" Lady Jane. To believe in Godd the Father, in Godd the 
Sonne, and in Godde the Holy Ghost ; iii p~sons in one Godd. 

" F. Is there nothynge else requyryd in a crystyn man but to 
believe in Godd ? 

" L. J. Yes. We must believe in hym. We must love hym 
with all our harte, with all our sowle, and all our mynde, and 
our neighbor as our selfe. 

" F. Why (S. Pawle saythe that yf I haue faythe) then 
fay the only justifyeth not nor saveth not ? 

' ' L. J. Yes, surely ; as S l Pawle saieth, faythe only jus- 
tifieth. 

" F. Why, S l Pawle saithe that if I haue faithc and want 
love it is nothynge ?" 



S() c 2 LADY JANE GREY, 

consequences of that faith which alone can save, through 
the merits and mediation of our redeemer Jesus Christ. 

When Feckenham asserted that there were seven 
sacraments, Lady Jane answered by a short question ; 
" By what scripture find you that ?" To which the 
abbot could only reply, " Well ! we will talk of that 
hereafter." In answer to his question, of what she 
understood by the only two sacraments that she ac- 
knowledged? Lady Jane stated, that baptism was 
merely a token of being the child of God, and of rege- 
neration ; whilst the Lord's supper was nothing more 
than a sure seal and testimony of the blood of Christ 
shed upon the cross, by which all true believers are 
made partakers of Heaven. 

Feckenham then touched her more closely upon the 
doctrine of transubstantiation, asking her if she did 
not actually receive the very body and blood of Christ 
in the bread; for to this absurdity upon absurdity he 
was brought, by the fact of the Roman Catholic clergy 
denying the cup to the laity in the celebration of that 
sacrament ; but Lady Jane at once denied her belief 
of this, saying, that the broken bread reminded her of 
Christ's body broken for her sins, and the wine recalled 
to her the redeemer's blood shed upon the cross, of 
which she would receive the benefits through a holy 
partaking. 

To this Feckenham instantly opposed what he con- 
sidered an unanswerable argument ; asking her, did 



AND HER TIMES. Sfjtf 

not Christ himself say, " Take, eat, this is my body." 
But this she explained was only meant in a figurative 
sense, just as he says in other places that he is a vine, 
a door, &c. She further urged the impossibility of our 
Saviour having any other than a typical meaning in 
these words, by the fact that there could not be two 
Christs ; one in Heaven, and the other to be eaten upon 
earth ; that Christ himself was alive in the body when 
he said so ; and that it was impossible the bread on the 
table, which he broke and gave to his disciples, could 
be the body of him who then distributed it ! 

To this Feckenham merely answered that she founded 
her faith upon authors who say and unsay in a breath, 
and not upon the church, to which she ought to give 
credit ; but she denied this, asserting that she grounded 
her faith upon God's word, and not upon any. church ; 
and that the opinions of a church were to be tried by 
God's word, and not God's word by a church, which 
in refusing the wine to partakers of a sacrament, with- 
holds from them part of the type of their salvation. 
She then showed clearly that St. Paul administered 
the sacrament in both kinds to the Corinthians; to 
which Feckenham replied, that the refusal of the cup 
to the laity, by the Roman Catholic church, was to a 
good intent, and to avoid a heresy; a reason which 
Lady Jane at once set aside, by replying that the 
church had no right to alter God's will and ordinances. 
The paper, thus slightly sketched, now says: " To 



364 LADY JANE (iKEY, 

this Mr. Feckenham gave me a long, tedious, yet elo- 
quent reply, using many strong and logical persuasions 
to compel me to have leaned to their church ; but my 
faith hath armed my resolution to withstand any as- 
sault that words could then use against me. Of many 
other articles of religion we reasoned ; but those for- 
merly rehears'd were the chiefest and most effectual. 

Subscribed, 

Jane Dudley. 1 ' 

Though Friday the 9th of February was the day 
first appointed for the awful ceremony of death, and 
though Lady Jane had refused the offered respite, as 
well as its terms and conditions, yet, for reasons which 
do not appear, that respite was confirmed by the council ; 
and by that delay, her father became, in some measure, 
a witness of the ruin he had produced, he himself being 
brought in a prisoner to the Tower, on the 10th of the 
month. Lady Jane, there is every reason to believe, 
was not, at the moment, acquainted with his previous 
arrest, nor even with his being in arms, for it was on 
the 9th, in the evening, that she wrote to him the me- 
morable letter, mentioned by all historians of that day, 
and undoubtedly genuine. It is also said, by those 
who believe in the authenticity of her supposed letter 
to Harding, already noticed, that it was between the 
notice of her death and execution that she composed it ; 
but this is only adding improbability to improbability. 



AND HER TIMES. 



361 



since a letter so unlike to her mild and meek, yet boldly 
christian spirit, was still less likely to have been written 
under her then circumstances. 

In a book of the lord stewards of England *, the let- 
ter to her father is noticed in the following manner : 

" This duke's facility, too, by practises, had occa- 
sioned the troubles w th w ch this realme had for some 
yeares beene distractede, and his rash ingratitude (the 
queene havenge once pardoned him beyond expecta- 
tion) had diverted the current of the queenes cle- 
mency towards his daughter the Lady Jane, whose 
life (yt was generally conceived) shee would have par- 
doned, but her father's miscouncelled rashnes hastened 
her death. A little before w ch shee sent unto him this 
letter followinge : 

" Father, although it hath pleased God to hasten 
my death by you, by whome my life should rather 
have beene lengthened, yet I can soe patiently take it, 
that I yeeld God more hearty thankes for shortning 
my wofull dayes, than if all the world had been given 
into my possessions, with life lengthened at my owne 
will. And albeit I am very well assured of yo im- 
patient dolours, redoubled many wayes, both in be- 
wayling yo r owne woe, and especially, as I am in- 
formed, my wofull estate : yet my deare father, if I 
may, without offense, reioyce in my owne mishaps, 
* Brit. Mus. ITarl. Coll; No. '21 9 1, p. 21. 



366 LADY JAXE GREY, 

herein I may account myself blessed, that washinge 
my hands with the innocence of my fact, my guiltless 
bloud may cry before the Lord, mercie to the innocent. 
And yet though I must needs acknowledge, that 
beinge constrayned, and as you knowe well enough 
contynually assayed ; yet in taking upon mee, I 
seemed to consent, and therein grievously offended the 
queene and her lawes, yet doe I assuredly trust that 
this my offence towards God is soe muche the lesse, in 
that being in so royall estate as I was, my enforced 
hono neuer mingled w fll mine innocent heart. And 
thus, good father, I have opened unto you the state 
wherein I presently stand, my death at hand, al- 
though to you perhaps it may seeme wofull, yet to mee 
thear is nothing that can bee more welcome than from 
this vale of misery to aspire to that heavenly throne 
of all ioy and pleasure, w th Christ my Saviour: in 
whose stedfast faith (if it may be lawfull for the 
daughter soe to write to the father) the Lord that 
hath hitherto strengthened you, soe continue to 
keepe you, that att the last wee may meete in heaven 
with the Father, Sonn, and Holy Ghost. 

I am, 
Your obedient Daughter till death, 

Jane Dudley/ 1 

At what time this letter reached her father is uncer- 
tain ; but on the next day, as already mentioned, (the 
10th of February) the Duke of Suffolk was brought 



A XI) HER TIMC9. ')()7 

up prisoner to the Tower, together with the Lord 
John, his brother, guarded by the Earl of Hunting- 
don, a troop of gentlemen, and others, to the number 
of three hundred horsemen ; and measures were in- 
stantly taken for his trial. 

Between the announcement of the fatal order for 
execution and its fulfilment, the lieutenant of the 
Tower, Sir John Gage, evidently impressed with love 
and respect for the unhappy sufferers, was anxious to 
procure some memorial of his illustrious prisoners; 
and accordingly he presented to them a " vellum 
book of a small but thickish size*, being the manuel of 
devotions of some English protestant of quality, who 
was cast into prison wrongfully, according to his own 
opinion. It was illuminated by some foreigner, but 
hath since been abused ; and is now imperfect in two 
places." Such is the description of the book in the 
Harleian Catalogue, to which is added a note : " I 
will not affirm that this manuel was written by the di- 
rection of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and 
Protector of England, upon his first commitment to 
the Tower of London ; and that the last five prayers 
were added after his second commitment, which ended 
in his execution. But if this were so, 'tis easy to 
apprehend how it might come into the hands of 
that noble, but unfortunate lady, the Lady Jane Grey : 
but that this book was in the Lady Jane's hands or 
possession, and was also looked into by her husband, 
* Brit. Mus. Harl. Coll. No. 8342. 



368 LADY JANE CREY, 

appears by the three following notes written on the 
lower margins." 

The probability is, that the book had been borrowed 
by the illustrious sufferers ; and, for want of permitted 
materials, was made by them the means of commu- 
nicating their last wishes and farewells to their friends. 
The first note is evidently addressed by Lord Guild- 
ford to his father in law : " Your loving and obedyent 
son wischethe unto your grace, long lyfe in this world, 
with as muche joy and comforte as ever I wyshte to 
my selfe ; and in the world to come joy everlasting. 
Your most humble son tel his dethe, G. Duddeley. ,, 

A few pages further on is a note from Lady Jane, 
addressed to the Duke of Suffolk : " The Lord com- 
forte your grace, and that in his worde whearein alle 
creatures onlye are to be comforted. And thoughe it 
hath pleased God to take awaye 2 of your children, 
yet thincke not, I most humblye beseche your grace, 
that you have lost them; but truste that we, by 
leafinge this mortall lyfe, haue wunne an immortel life. 
And I, for my parte, as I haue honoured yur grace 
in this life, wyll praye for you in another life. 






The dying victim of ambition also addressed Sir 
John Gage in the following words : " Forasmuche as 



AND HER TIMES. 



369 



you haue desired so simple a woman to wrighte in so 
worthy a booke, gode mayster lieuftenante, therefore 
I shall, as a friend, desyre you, and as a Christian re- 
quire you, to call upyon God, to encline your harte to 
his lawes, to quicken you in his waye, and not to take 
the worde of trewethe utterlye oute of your mouthe. 
Lyve styll to dye, that by deathe you may purchase 
eternell life; and remembre howe the ende of Ma- 
th usael, whoe as we reade in the scriptures, was the 
longeste liver that was of a manne died at the laste. 
For, as the precher sayethe, there is a tyme to be 
borne and a tyme to die ; and the daye of deathe is 
better than the daye of oure birthe. Youres as the 
Lorde knowethe as a frende. 

Jane Duddeley." 

On the 11th of February she was, for the most part, 
absorbed in religious exercises and meditation : but in 
the course of this evening she took up a New Testament 
in Greek, u in which, after she had read a while, and 
closing the book, she found at the end of it some leaves 
of clean paper unwritten; which," says the author 
quoted, " as it were awakening and exciting her zeal to 
some good and charitable office, she took pen and ink, 
and on these waste leaves wrote a most learned and 
godly exhortation ; which she had no sooner finished, 
than she closed up the book, and delivered it to one of 
her attendants, Mistress Tylney, or Mistress Ellen, dc-* 

b n 



370 LADY JANE GREY, 

siring her to bear it to her sister Lady Herbert, as the 
last token of her love and remembrance." 

After finishing this exhortation to her sister, she was 
not permitted to remain in peace ; but was again as- 
sailed by two bishops and two learned doctors, who 
held her in deep conference upwards of two hours, 
striving with all their powers of eloquence and per- 
suasion to induce her to recant, and die in the Roman 
Catholic faith ; in this, however, they were, as before, 
totally unsuccessful ; " for her faith being built upon 
the rock of Christ, was by no worldly persuasion or 
comfort to be either moved or shaken; so that after 
the expense of time, and the loss of much speech, they 
left her (as they said) a lost and forsaken member ; but 
she, as before, prayed for them, and with a most cha- 
ritable patience endured their worst censures. 1 ' 

The Testament in which Lady Jane wrote this ex- 
hortation to her sister is still in existence ; but we have 
not seen it : we subjoin, however, a copy which we have 
seen, on the blank pages of a MS. on vellum, containing 
an Essay by Albertus Castellanus, or Albert Chatelain, 
on the Art of Dieing " De arte Moriendi," and a chro- 
nicle of English affairs from Adam to the year 1427*. 
It is to the following effect : 



* This MS. is in the British Museum, Harl. Coll. No. 2370. 
The MS. itself tells us, that Adam was fifteen years old when 
he had Cain, and his sister Calmana. 



AND ITER TIMES. f371 

" This exhortacyon was writen by Lady Jane Dud- 
ley to her sister Katherine y* night bifo she suffred : 

u I haue sent yo good sust r K. a boke \vh although 
it be not outwardly rimid with gold, yet inwardly it is 
most worth then pcyous stones. It is the boke, dere 
sist r , of the laws of the lord ; it is his testament and 
last will, wch he bequeathed unto us wretches, wch 
shall lead yo to the path of eternall joye, and yf yo 
wth a good mide reade it, and wth an earnest dissyre 
folow it, shall bring you to an imortall and ever lasting 
lyfe. It wyll teach yo to lyve, and learne yo to dey : 
it shall wyne yo more then yo sholde haue gayned by 
the possessyon of yo r wofull fathres lands, for as if god 
had pspered him, yo shold haue inherited his lands, so 
if yo aply diligetly yo r boke, trying to directe yo r lyfe 
aft r it ; yo shalbe an inheritor of such riches as nither 
the covetous shall withdrawe from you, neyther the 
thefe shall steale, neither yet y e mothe corrupte. Dis- 
syre sist r to understand y e lawe of y e lord yo r god. 
Ly\e styll to dey, y t yo bydeth may purches eternell 
lyfe ; or after yo r deth enioye the lyfe purchesed yo w 
by Christis death, and trust not y 1 y e tendernes of yo r 
age shall lengthen yo r life : for assone, if god will, goith 
y e young as the old ; and laboure alway to lerne to 
dey. Deney y e world, difey y e devall, and dispyse y e 
flesh. Delite yo r selfe onely in y e lord. Be penitent 
for yo r syns, and yet despayre not. Be steady in faythe 

BI) 2 



372 



yet psume not, and desyre wth S. Pawle to be desolvid 
and to be wth X 1 with whom even in death there is 
lyfe. Be lyke the good servant, and even at midnight 
be wakyng; least when death corny th and stealythe 
upon yo lyke a thefe in y e night yo u be with the evel 
servant found slepinge, and least for lacke of oyle ye 
be founde lyk the first foulsh wence, and lyke him that 
had not on the wedyng garment and the be cast out 
from the marriage. Risyst in ye, as I trust ye do, 
and seeing ye have y e name of a cristian, as neare as 
ye can folowe the stepes of yo 1 master Chst, and take 
up yo r crosse ; lay yo r syns on his backe, and always 
embrace him ; and as towchynge my dethe reioyce as 
I do, and adsist y l I shalbe delyvred of y s corruption 
and put on incorruption, for I am assurcde y l I shall 
for losyng of a mortall lyfe finde an imortall felisity. 
Pray God graunt yo send yo of his grace to ly ve in his 
feare, and to dey in y e love 

of ioy to you when the shall arrive, neither 

for loue of lyfe nor feares of deathe. For if ye deney 
his truth to legthen yur life, God will deney yo and 
shorten yo r dayes ; and if yd will cleaue to him, he will 
plong yo r days to yo r cofort and his glory, to the wch 
glory, God beinge minde and yo herafter, when it shall 
please God to call yo. Farewell good syst r put yo r 
onely trust in God, who oncly must uphold yo yo r 
loving syst. 

Jane Dudley." 



AND HER TIMES. 373 

So collected was the unhappy girl, so composed in 
all her faculties, that on this very evening she finished 
and corrected a prayer*, which had long been her 

* K O Lord, thou God and Father of my life, hear me, poor 
and desolate woman, which flyeth unto thee only in all troubles 
and miseries. Thou, O Lord, art the only defender and de- 
liverer of those that put their trust in thee ; and, therefore, I, 
being defiled with sin, encumbered with affliction, unquieted with 
troubles, wrapped in cares, overwhelmed with miseries, vexed 
with temptations, and grievously tormented with the long im- 
prisonment of this vile mass of clay, my sinful body, do come 
unto thee (O merciful Saviour), craving thy mercy and help, 
without the which so little hope of deliverance is left, that I 
may utterly despair of my liberty. Albeit, it is expedient, that 
seeing our life standeth upon trying, we should be visited some 
time with some adversity, whereby we might both be tried 
whether we be of thy flock or no, and also know thee and our- 
selves the better ; yet thou that saidst thou wouldst not suffer 
us to be tempted above our power, be merciful unto me, now a 
miserable wretch, I beseech thee ; which, with Solomon, do cry 
unto thee, humbly desiring thee, that I may neither be too 
much puffed up with prosperity, neither too much depressed 
with adversity; lest I, being too full, should deny thee my God; 
or being too low brought, should despair and blaspheme thee 
my Lord and Saviour. O merciful God, consider my misery, 
best known unto thee; and be thou now unto me a strong tower 
of defence, I humbly require thee. Suffer me not to be tempted 
above my power, but either be thou a deliverer unto me out of 
this great misery, or else give me grace patiently to bear thy 
heavy hand and sharp correction. It was thy right hand that de- 
livered the people of Israel out of the hands of Pharaoh, which 
for the space of four hundred years did oppress them, and keep 
them in bondage. Let it therefore likewise seem good to thy 
fatherly goodness, to deliver me, sorrowful wretch (for whom 
thy son Christ shed his precious blood on the cross), out of this 
miserable captivity and bondage, wherein I am now. How long 



374 LADY JANE GREY, 

solace in prison. We give it in a modern dress and 
version ; but its authenticity is undoubted. 

It had been the original intention of the queen that 
the youthful couple should suffer together on Tower 
Hill ; but the council, dreading the compassion of the 
people for their youth, beauty, innocence as to them- 
selves personally, and noble birth,, changed the orders 

wilt thou be absent ? — for ever ? Oh, Lord ! hast thou forgotten 
to be gracious, and hast thou shut up thy loving kindness in 
displeasure ? Wilt thou be no more entreated ? Is thy mercy 
clear gone for ever, and thy promise come utterly to an end for 
evermore ? Why doest thou make so long tarrying ? Shall I 
despair of thy mercy ? Oh God ! far be that from me ! I am 
thy workmanship, created in Christ Jesus ; give me grace there- 
fore to tarry thy leisure, and patiently to bear thy works, as- 
suredly knowing, that as thou canst, so thou wilt deliver me, 
when it shall please thee, nothing doubting or mistrusting thy 
goodness towards me ; for thou knowest better what is good for 
nie than I do ; therefore do with me in all things what thou 
wilt, and plague me what way thou wilt. Only, in the mean 
time, arm me, I beseech thee, with thy armour, that I may 
stand fast, my loins being girded about with verity, having on 
the breast-plate of righteousness, and shod with the shoes pre- 
pared by the gospel of peace ; above all things, taking to me the 
shield of faith, wherewith I may be able to quench all the fiery 
darts of the wicked ; and taking the helmet of salvation and 
the sword of thy spirit, which is thy most holy word ; praying 
always, with all manner of prayer and supplication, that I may 
refer myself wholly to thy will, abiding thy pleasure, and com- 
forting myself in those troubles that it shall please thee to send 
me ; seeing such troubles be profitable for me, and seeing I am 
assuredly persuaded that it cannot but be well all thou doest. 
Hear me, O merciful Father, for his sake, whom thou wouldest 
should be a sacrifice for my sins ; to whom with thee and the 
Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory. Amen !" 



AND HER TIMES. 375 

originally issued, and gave directions that Lord Guild- 
ford only should suffer on the Hill, but that Lady 
Jane should be brought to the block within the walls 
of the fortress*. 

The Lord Guildford being informed of this, on the 
morning of the fatal day, anxiously desired permission 
to see the youthful partner of his joys and sorrows ; a 
permission which Mary, from a refinement in cruelty, 
was not disinclined to grant ; but Lady Jane herself 
refused to admit of the proposed interview, with a 
degree of prudent resignation which marked the heroic 

* We have endeavoured to diversify the regularity of history 
in several places, with extracts from a well known and much 
admired dramatic sketch of these occurrences, even when these 
extracts were not in strict accordance with the precise chain of 
events : we have now to notice a previous dramatic effort, by 
J. Banks, in 1693, called the " Innocent Usurper," in which 
Mrs. Barry played Lady Jane, and Betterton represented Lord 
Guildford Dudley. Such representation in flowing wigs, buck- 
ram skirts, hoop petticoats, and laced lappets, must have been 
ridiculous enough ; but not more so than the play itself, w r hich 
Suffolk opens with the following bombast : 

" Let the sun's fruitful rays abhor the isle, 
And smile no more on this unfruitful land." 

Further extract must be needless ; but we subjoin the con- 
cluding lines, as from the lips of the youthful sufferer : 

" Should all your tort'rous racks on me be tried, 
Broil me on gridirons, turn the other side ; 
To my vow'd faith I'll be for ever true, 
In spite of all your Roman gods, and you !" 



376 



LADY JANE GREY 



feelings of her soul ; sending him word that the tender- 
ness of their parting would overcome the fortitude of 
both, and would too much unbend their minds from 
that constancy which their approaching end required 
of them. She added, that their separation would only 
be for a moment ; and that they would soon rejoin each 
other in a scene where their affections would be for 
ever united, and where death, disappointment, and 
misfortunes could no longer have access to them, or 
disturb their eternal felicity. 

Throughout the whole of these occurrences the dra- 
matic poet, already quoted, makes Gardiner appear 
more active than history shows him to have openly 
been; giving to him, in fact, much of what should 
have been allotted to Feckenham, whom he has omitted 
entirely. The notice of the execution he thus describes, 
in a scene between the bishop and the lieutenant of the 
Tower : 

Lieut. Good morning to your lordship : you rise early. 

Gar. Nay, by the rood, there are too many sleepers ; 
Some must stir early, or the state shall suffer. 
Did you, as yesterday our mandate bade, 
Inform your pris'ners, Lady Jane and Guildford, 
They were to die this day? 

Lieut. My lord, I did. 

Gar. 'Tis well. But say how did your message like 'em ? 

Lieut. My lord, they met the summons with a temper 
That show'd a solemn serious sense of death, 
Mix'd with a noble scorn of all its terrors : 



AND HER TIMES. 377 

In short, they heard me with the self-same patience 
With which they still have borne them in their prison. 
In one request they both concurr'd; each begg'd 
To die before the other. 

Soon after the communication between the parting 
lovers, on Monday the 12th of February, 1554, Lord 
Guildford was led out of the Tower, and when he 
came outside of the bulwark gate, was delivered into 
the custody of one of the sheriffs of London, Thomas 
Offleie. In his way to the gate, he passed directly 
under the window of his unhappy bride, for such she 
may still be considered, from whence she took one last 
parting look in this world, giving him from the window 
a signal or token of remembrance ; and when he was 
no more to be seen, she sat down with apparent tran- 
quillity, and with the most religious patience and re- 
signation waited until her own appointed hour should 
arrive. 




378 LADY JANE GREY, 

When the unhappy youth arrived at the gate, several 
friends were there in waiting : and he took by the hand 
Sir Anthony Browne, Mr. John Throckmorton, and 
many other gentlemen ; bidding them adieu with great 
fortitude, but requesting them to pray for him. 

No sooner did he approach the scaffold than he 
mounted it with dignity and resolution; and, after some 
slight declaration, knelt down to prayer. In a few 
minutes he paused, and cast his eyes and hands up to 
Heaven; a tear, it was said, bedewed his eye for a 
moment — it was but for a moment, when he spoke to 
the assembled crowd ; but merely desired them to pray 
for him, and then calmly laying his head upon the block, 
he resigned himself to the executioner. 

His head was then laid in a cloth, and, with his body 
was deposited in a cart, in order to be carried back to 
the Tower for interment. 

It is said that Lady Jane was still sitting tranquilly in 
her chamber. When she heard the rumbling of the cart, 
she rose, but her attendants wished to prevent it. This 
she resisted with calm dignity, walking steadily to the 
window, under which it passed so as to be seen by her. 
But she had already heard of his noble behaviour on the 
scaffold, and had the fortitude to declare, that the con- 
stancy of his end gave a confirmation to her mind fully 
adequate to counterbalance the shock resulting from 
so tender and melancholy a spectacle. We have seen 
it recorded, that her words were, " Oh ! Guildford ! 
Guildford ! the anterepast is not so bitter that you 



AND HER TIMES. 379 

have tasted, and that I shall soon taste, as to make my 
flesh tremble; but that is nothing compared to the 
feast that you and I shall this day partake of in 
Heaven !" 

During these proceedings preparations were making 
inside the fortress for a second tragedy, and a scaffold 
was erected upon the green, opposite to the White 
Tower. When it was ready, Sir John Gage, the 
Lieutenant of the Tower, is said to have again desired 
her to bestow on him some small present, which he 
might keep as a perpetual memorial of her ; on which 
she gave him her table book, where she had just wrote 
three sentences, on seeing her husband's dead body ; one 
of these was in Greek, one in Latin, and the third in 
English ; and the purport of them that human justice 
was against his body, but the divine mercy would be 
favourable to his soul ; that if her own fault deserved 
punishment, yet her youth, at least, and her imprudence, 
were worthy of excuse, and that God and posterity, 
she trusted, would show her favour*. 

* In her chamber she also left a Latin sentence, written with 
a pin,— 

" Deo juvante, nil nocet malus; 

Et non juvante, nil juvat labor gravis. 

Post tenebris, spero lucem." 

Which has been thus translated — 

Whilst God assists us, Envy bites in vain ; 
If God forsake us, fruitless all our pain. 

1 hope for light after the darkness. 



380 LADY JANE GREY, 

The author, already quoted*, says, that when she 
was called down to go to the scaffold, she had prepared 
herself for it with more diligence than either the malice 
of her adversaries could desire, or the vigilance of any 
officer, for the discharge of his duty, could expect. 

Being come down, and delivered into the hands of 
the sheriffs, she exhibited a countenance so gravely 
settled with all modest and comely resolution, that not 
the slightest trace of fear or grief could be perceived, 
either in her words or actions : " but like a divine body, 
going to be united to her heart's best and longest be- 
loved, so shewed she forth all the beams of a well 
mix'd and well temper'd alacrity, rather instructing 
patience how it should suffer, than being by patience 
any way able to indure the travail of so grievous a 
journey. 1 ' 

When the lieutenant offered his hand to lead her 
forth, she rose with the greatest calmness, without the 
slightest change of countenance, and without even a 
tear in her eye ; a degree of confidence which she pre- 
served whilst walking to the scaffold, with a book in 
her hand, by help of which she prayed most fervently, 

It is also asserted, but we cannot vouch for the authority, that 
she wrote four other lines in the same manner,-^ 

" Whate'er by man, as mortal, is assign'd, 
Should raise compassion, reader, in thy mind ! 
Mourn others' woes, and to thy own resign ; 
The fate which I have found, may soon be thine." 

* Phoenix, vol. ii. p. 42. 



AND HER TIMES. 



381 



though often interrupted by Feckenham with more 
zeal than delicacy. 

Patient, and mild as a lamb, she mounted the scaf- 
fold without hesitation, waiting quietly until silence 
was procured, when she spoke as follows, clearly, 
distinctly, and without the slightest tremor : — " Good 
people, I come hither to die ; and by a law I am con- 
demned to the same. My offence against the queen's 
highness was only in consent to the device of others, 
which is now deemed treason ; but it was never of my 
seeking, but by counsel of those who should seem to 
have further understanding of such things than I, who 
knew little of the law, and much less of the titles to 
the crown. The fact indeed was unlawful, and the 
consenting thereunto by me, or in my half. I do wash 
my hands thereof in innocence, before God and you, 
good Christian people, this day." — It was observed, 
that at these words she wrung her hands ; not, how- 
ever, from agony, but rather, as it would seem, as an 
action in literal consonance with her words. That it 
really was so, may be drawn from her instantly pro- 
ceeding, " I pray you all, good Christian people, to 
bear me witness that I die a true Christian woman, 
and that I look to be saved by none other mean but 
only by the mercy of God, and the merits of the blood 
of his only Son Jesus Christ ; and I confess, when I 
did know the word of God, I neglected the same, and 
loved myself and the world, and therefore this plague 



382 LADY JANE GREY, 

and punishment is happily and worthily happened unto 
me for my sins ; and yet I thank God of his goodness, 
that he hath thus given me a time and respite to repent. 
And now, good people, while I am alive, I pray you 
to assist me with your prayers." 

In the whole of this speech, the youthful heroine 
appears pointedly to have had reference not only to the 
doctrinal differences between the Reformed and Roman 
Catholic churches, but also to the disputations which 
had previously taken place between her and the popish 
divines who now surrounded her even in her last mo- 
ments. She seems, indeed, to have been apprehensive 
that they might belie her dying sentiments ; and diere- 
fore she spoke both pointedly and decidedly as to the 
intercession of saints, works of supererogation, and pur- 
gatory, with prayers after death ; all of which points, 
though not expressly mentioned in her speech, are yet 
most clearly alluded to. 

It appears, that no divine of the Reformed Church 
was permitted to attend her ; for on the conclusion of 
her speech, having knelt down to pray, she turned to 
Feckenham, the queen's chaplain, saying, " Shall I say 
this psalm ? " To this the proud and bigoted confessor 
merely answered " Yea;" when the mild sufferer re- 
peated the psalm of Miserere met Deus, in English, 
and in the most devout manner ; adding, to Fecken- 
ham, " God will abundantly requite you, good sir, for 
your humanity to mc, though your discourses gave me 



AND HER TIMES. 383 

more uneasiness than all the terrors of my approaching 
death." Her devotions ended, she stood up, and began 
to undress ; first pulling off her gloves and handker- 
chief, which she delivered to Mrs. Tylney, her maid ; 
handing also her book to the lieutenant's brother, Mr. 
Thomas Brydges. 

On proceeding to untie her gown, the executioner 
stepped forward, and rudely attempted to assist her ; 
but she mildly desired him to let her alone, and turned 
towards her two gentlewomen, who helped her in taking 
off the gown, and also her " froze paste and necker- 
cher," giving to her at the same time a white handker- 
chief to tie over her eyes. The executioner now knelt 
down and asked her forgiveness, which she acceded to 
him most sweetly and willingly ; when he desired her 
to stand upon some straw, and in doing this she first 
saw the fatal block. With that sight, however, she 
seemed not dismayed ; but said to the executioner, " I 
pray you despatch me quickly. 1 ' She then knelt down, 
and said, " Will you take it off before I lay me down ?" 
To which the executioner answered, " No, madam." 

The unhappy but patient victim now bound the 
handkerchief over her eyes ; and, feeling for the block, 
said, " What shall I do ? Where is it ? " At this 
question, one of the persons on the scaffold guided her 
towards the block, on which she instantly laid her 
head, and then, stretching forth her body, exclaimed, 



384 



LADY JANE GREY, 



" Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit ! " A 
pause of one moment ensued — the axe fell — and the 
lovely and pious victim to ambition and bigotry re- 
joined her husband in heaven ! 

Fox, speaking of her conduct upon this awful occa- 
sion, says, that she most patiently, christianly, and 
constantly yielded to God her soul ; which, by a bad 
way, went to the best end. He adds, that thus were 
beheaded two innocents, in comparison of those who 
sate upon them ; for they did but, through ignorance, 
accept that which the others had willingly devised, and 
by open proclamation consented to take from others 
and give to them ; " and verelie, how unwilling she 
was to take it upon her, there are yet living that can 
testify.'" He then states, " Judge Morgan, now, that 
gave the sentence against hir, shortlie after fell mad, 
and in his raving cried continuallie to have the Ladie 
Jane taken awaie from hym, and so ended his lyfe." 
It is an interesting fact, hinted by Fuller, that it was 
reported she was " as ladies wish to be who love their 
lords," at the time of her suffering. " Cruelty," says 
he, " to cut down the tree with blossoms on it ; and 
that that which hath saved the lives of many women, 
hastened her death: but God only knows the truth 
thereof." 

This day was long after called Black Monday, as 
the first day of a week which Strype calls a bloody 



AND HEll TIMES. 385 

week of executions ; for in the same, in order to strike 
terror into the minds of the people, many new gallows 
were set up in London. Of these, there was one at 
every gate; and others in Cheapside, Fleet-street, 
Charing-cross, Hyde-Park-Corner, &c. ; and on Wed- 
nesday, the fourteenth, no less than forty-seven suf- 
fered, of whom three were hanged in chains, and seven 
quartered, and their bodies and heads set upon the 
different gates of the city. 

Three days afterwards, on the seventeenth of Fe- 
bruary, the Duke of Suffolk was brought to trial, and 
indicted for levying war against the queen, and ad- 
hering to Sir Thomas Wyat, in order to depose the 
queen, and set the crown on the head of his daughter. 
To the indictment he answered, that it was not treason 
in a peer of the realm, as he was, to raise his power 
and make proclamation to avoid strangers out of the 
land, alluding to the Spaniards. 

It was replied, he had done more ; that he had op- 
posed the queen's lieutenant the Earl of Huntingdon, 
at the head of her majesty's forces, which was certainly 
high treason. To that charge he answered, that he 
did not know the Earl was her lieutenant ; that his 
brother had advised him to go down into the country, 
where he would be safe among his tenants ; but if he 
staid in town, he would be committed to the Tower 



The peers, as the record asserts, not satisfied with 

c c 



386 LADY JANE GREY, 

this trifling defence, found the duke guilty, and sen- 
tence was passed on him as a traitor *. 

Little time was afforded to the unhappy and deso- 
lated parent to reflect on the miseries produced by his 
ambition ; for six days after the trial, and on the twenty- 
third of February, he also was brought out to the place of 
execution on Tower-hill ; where, it is said, he confessed 
that he suffered justly for his disloyalty to the queen. 
He also desired the people to take warning by his 
misfortune, and behave themselves dutifully to the go- 
vernment ; and he professed his belief of the Christian 
religion, but without any distinction as to communions, 
except in saying, that he rested his salvation upon no 
other means than the mercy of God, through the suf- 
ferings of our blessed Saviour ; thereby evidently de- 
nying all belief in the intercession of saints — a point 



* The fate of Suffolk is thus briefly related in the Lord- 
Stewards' Book, in the British Museum (Harl. Coll. 2194-.), 
already quoted : 

"■ Henry Fitzallan, Lord Maltravers, and Lord-Steward of 
her Majestie's Houshold, was Lord High Steward 
of England att the arraignement of Henry Lord 
Grey, Duke of Suftblke, father of the Lady Jane, 
married to Guilford Dudley. 
" This Henry Duke of Suffolke, beinge condemned by his 
peeres for combyninge in rebellion w tb Wyat against the queene 
and her proceedings w lh Spayne, had sentence of death pro- 
nounced against him, w ch hee suffered the 23d of February, 
upon the Tower-hill, when he most Xristanly made profession 
of his faith w lh greate repentance of his fact." 



AND HER TIMES. 387 

then of great difference between the Reformed and 
Catholic churches. 

The widowed duchess survived the duke and her 
lovely daughter some years, not dying until 1563 ; 
but Camden observes, that she forgot her greatness so 
far as to accept for her husband Adrian Stokes, a 
gentleman in low circumstances (one of her own do- 
mestics), which, how much soever it might tend to her 
discredit, yet seemed to answer the view with which it 
was done, by contributing to her security. 

Of Lady Jane's two sisters, it is sufficient to remark, 
that Lady Katharine was repudiated, or, perhaps, her 
betrothing only with Lord Herbert, son of the Earl of 
Pembroke, set aside for political reasons, through the 
cautious policy of the earl. This may be supposed a 
most unhappy event for the fair Katharine, if Fuller, 
in his Worthies of England, is correct, when he says, 
" This Heraclita, or Lady of Lamentation, thus re- 
pudiated, was seldome seen with dry eyes for some 
years together, sighing out her sorrowful condition; 
so that though the roses in her cheeks looked very 
wan and pale, it was not for want of watering :" though 
she recovered her grief, and was afterwards married to 
Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, yet privately, and 
without the license of Queen Elizabeth. But the preg- 
nancy of Lady Hertford becoming known, the queen 
fined the earl 15,000/. and committed him a prisoner to 
the Tower, as was his lady also, and under strict orders 



388 LADY JANE GREY, 

of all intercourse being forbidden. Love, however, 
found the way for their meeting privately, until the earl 
was liberated ; and the lady died in 1567, after nine 
years 1 imprisonment. 

The younger sister, the Lady Mary, as Fuller ob- 
serves, frighted with the infelicity of her two sisters, 
forgot her honour to remember her safety, and married 
one whom she could love, and none need fear, Martin 
Keyes, of Kent, Esq. who was a judge at court (but 
only of doubtfull caste of dice, being serjeant-porter), 
and died without issue, in 1578. Perhaps we ought 
also to add of her, on the authority of Baker, that she 
was " somewhat deformed." 

Little is now left, but to record the fate of the 
Duchess Dowager of Northumberland, mother of Lord 
Guildford Dudley. 

It was well observed of her, that she was a singular 
instance of the vicissitudes of fortune ; having been the 
wife of one of the greatest men of the age ; living to 
see her husband lose his head upon a scaffold ; to see 
one son share his fathers fate ; another escape it only 
by dying in prison ; and the rest of her children living 
but by permission. Yet, amidst all this distress, which 
was heightened by the confiscation of her property, she 
displayed great firmness of mind, though left desti- 
tute of fortune and of friends, until the queen was 
persuaded to make her some restitution. A short pe- 
riod before her death, which happened at the manor- 



AND HER TIMES. 389 

house of Chelsea, she wrote her own will, the items 
of which strongly mark the manners of the times. To 
Sir Henry Sidney, her son-in-law (for she had five 
daughters, in addition to eight sons), she left the green 
and gold hangings of her gallery at Chelsea, embroi- 
dered with the family arms; and to his lady, her 
daughter Mary, she bequeathed her gown of black 
barred velvet, furred with sables ; and a gown, with a 
high back of fair wrought velvet. To her daughter 
Katharine, the bequest was a gown of purple velvet, 
a summer-gown, and a kirtle of new purple velvet to 
it, and sleeves. To a daughter of Lord Cobham she 
left a gown of black barred velvet, furred with lizards ; 
and her green parrot was bequeathed to the Duchess 
of Alva, having nothing else worthy of her. 

One expression in this testamentary document de- 
serves copying : " My will is, earnestly and effectually, 
that little solempnitie be made for me, for I had ever 
have a thousand foldes my debts to be paid, and the 
poore to be given unto, than anye pompe to be shewed 
upon my wretched carkes : therefore to the wormes will 
I go, as I have afore wry tten, in all poyntes, as you wyll 
answer yt afore God. And you breke any one jot of 
yt, your wylls hereafter may chaunce to be as well 
broken." 

In fact she had previously, or " afore," as she ex- 
presses it, given the most particular directions, not a 



390 LADY JANE GREY, 

little remarkable for the fastidious delicacy which they 
display : " After I am departyd from this worlde, let 
me be wonde up in a shete, and put in a cofFyn of 
woode, and so layde in the grounde with such funerals 
as parteyneth to the buriall of a corse. I will at my 
yere's mynde have such devyne service as myne exe- 
cutors shall thynke mete, with the whole arms of father 
and mother upon the stone grevan ; nor in no wyse to 
let me be opened after I am dead. I have not loved to 
be very bold afore women, much more wolde I be lothe 
to come into the hands of any lyving man, be he phy- 
sician or surgeon." 

It is somewhat remarkable that, in opposition to 
these strict orders, she was interred on the 1st Feb. 
1555, with great pomp and solemnity ; having also a 
superb monument erected over her grave, in More's 
Chapel, in Chelsea Church, still in existence. 

To close this eventful record of past times, we shall 
merely add, that the written memorials of 

LADY JANE GREY, 

are thus enumerated by Walpole, in his List of Noble 
Authors : — Four Latin Epistles — three to Bullinger, 
and one to her sister the Lady Katharine ; printed in 
a book called " Epistolae ab Ecclesiae Helvetica? Re- 
formatoribus, vel ad eos scriptae, &c. Tiguri, 1742. 



AND HER TIMES. 391 

octavo. 1 '' The fourth was written the night before her 
death, in a Greek Testament, in which she had been 
reading, and which she sent to her sister. 

Her Conference with Feckenham, Abbot of West- 
minster, who was sent to convert her to Popery. 

A Letter to Dr. Hardinge, her father's chaplain, 
who had apostatized ; but the authenticity of which 
we have already stated to be doubtful. 

A Prayer for her own Use, during her Confinement. 

Four Latin Verses, written in prison with a pin. 

Her Speech on the Scaffold. 

The Complaint of a Sinner. 

The Duty of a Christian. 

Walpole also mentions the Letters or Notes, written 
in the Manual of Prayers, already recorded ; and she 
is said, both by Hollinshed and Sir Richard Baker, to 
have written some other things ; but these authors do 
not specify them, nor say where they are to be found. 



THE END. 



LONDON: 

PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WH1TEFRIARS. 



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